United Arab Emirates
The UAE payment landscape in 2026 is shaped by strong credit card usage and widespread adoption of international card schemes. Credit and debit cards account for the majority of transaction volume, while alternative payment methods like digital wallets and carrier billing make up a small share, around 4%. For merchants, optimizing for Visa and Mastercard is key to reaching consumers and unlocking growth in this high-value digital market.
*Data is for Codapay in the period of 1st Oct 2024 - 30th Sep 2025
Impact figures
86%
Android users
14%
iOS users
26.8%
Credit & Debit Card ownership
612.5M
App downloads in 2025
613.2M
App revenue (USD) in 2025
Insights
Digital wallets
UAE is a dominant Android market reducing the efficacy of Apple Pay to some degree in enabling online payments.
Cards
Credit & Debit cards have moderate penetration in-market, but remain the dominant payment preference, making card redundancy with carrier billing and e-wallet options strategically valuable.
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