Global contactless transaction values will reach US$10tn by 2027, up from US$4.6tn in 2022, with contactless mobile and wearable payments expected to grow by 221% and contactless card payments by 119% over the same period, according to a Juniper Research forecast.

It also predicts that contactless ticketing spend will increase by more than 440% globally between 2022 and 2027, with “growing prominence and support for OEM pay solutions, such as Apple Pay, Google Pay and Samsung Pay” being a “key enabler for mobile NFC ticketing across many markets”.

Overall growth in contactless transaction values will be “catalysed by growing mobile payments adoption”, with 99% of all smartphones capable of making contactless payments by 2027, up from 94% today, and average transaction values for Apple Pay reaching US$28.20 and US$33.40 for Google Pay, the researchers say.

The forecast identifies the US as “the world’s leading market for NFC mobile payments by volume, with 4.4bn NFC mobile payments in 2022, rising to 8.3bn by 2027”.

“Investment in the underlying contactless payments ecosystem, such as contactless-enabled point of sale terminals and device-level support, will be the key driver of contactless transactions value growth over the next five years,” the researchers say.

“The push towards cashless societies will [also] drive growth as countries look to decrease their reliance upon cash.”

Growth in contactless ticketing “will be further accelerated by the rapid deployment of NFC ticketing solutions across public transport networks with the aim of reducing payment friction for customers,” the researchers add.

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