Apple's mobile payment service Apple Pay will kick off its services in China starting from from February 18. Samsung's Samsung Pay will also launch its services in China soon after closing negotiations with local partners. According to China.com on February 16, China Construction Bank and China Guangfa Bank announced that they would begin the Apple Pay service from 5 am on the 18th through the official WeChat (Wei Xin) accounts.

Apple will begin the service under agreements with 15 Chinese banks including four state-run banks like Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, China Construction Bank, Agricultural Bank of China, and Bank of China Ltd.

Samsung Electronics is also rushing to offer a similar service in partnership with UnionPay, China's largest credit card company. Samsung confirmed that the company was at the final stage of negotiations with UnionPay and other Chinese financial services firms.

China is the world's biggest smartphone market. By the end of 2015, 358 million people, more than the population of the United States, had already taken to paying by mobile phone, according to the China Internet Network Information Center.

Dominating those payments are China's two biggest Internet companies: social networking and gaming firm Tencent Holdings Ltd and e-commerce company Alibaba Group Holding Ltd, through its Internet finance affiliate Ant Financial Services Group.

Tencent operates WeChat Payment, while Ant Financial runs Alipay.