More Israelis pay at the checkout with their cell phones but the use of digital wallets is declining

More Israelis pay at the checkout with their cell phones, but the penetration rate of digital wallets in Israel is declining: since Apple Pay entered Israel in May this year, the use of digital wallets has jumped 13.5 times, according to data from Shebaa (automatic banking services). The national credit card payment system in Israel, however, while between April and May there was a jump of 725% in the use of digital wallets, between May and June the increase in use moderated to 50% and between June and July there was an increase of 23% - another moderation. Digital wallet transactions account for less than 3% of total transactions.
The leading player in the field at the moment in Israel is Apple with Apple Pay, followed by Beat. All credit card companies and some banks offer digital wallets. A digital wallet is an application to which the consumer enters his credit card information (or several credit cards) and thus turns his phone into a device that replaces the plastic card. Activating the digital wallet allows you to attach the phone to the cash register terminal to pay, just as consumers have learned to do with their credit card, thanks to the EMV security standard and thanks to radio connectivity called NFC and allows data transfer between two nearby devices - within touching range.
According to data from the automated banking services company in July, only 56% of all credit card transactions in July were made through the EMV system - an increase of 7.7% compared to June. A significant part of the market has not yet adopted the standard, after the Bank of Israel recently postponed the date of adoption of the system to the end of 2021. According to the ISA, 40% of all credit card transactions in July 2021 were smart transactions (credit card attachments to the terminal, or payment via digital wallets). 8.1% increase in the number of smart transactions compared to the previous month. July vs. June 2021.
The ISA data show that in July there was a 4.5% increase in the number of EMV terminals in Israel, while 69% of the active terminals in the Israeli economy are now terminals adapted to EMV transactions. A 5.9% increase was recorded last month in the number of terminals in Israel's national payment system That transfer EMV transactions and during July 54% of the terminals deployed in Israel transferred such transactions, compared to 51% in June.