Apple eyes Douyin Pay for mainland App Store while iPhone 17 ‘leak’ stirs online debate

The potential addition of Douyin Pay to Apple’s China App Store reflects the continued growth of mobile payment services in the country

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Apple’s China App Store currently offers mobile payment services from Alipay, WeChat Pay and China UnionPay. Photo: Shutterstock

Published: 9:00pm, 13 Aug 2025

Apple has started testing Douyin Pay as a new mobile payment service on its China App Store, according to mainland media reports, while purportedly leaked images of the iPhone 17 stirred up discussion on Chinese social media this week.

Once tests are completed, Douyin Pay is expected to serve as the fourth payment platform on the mainland App Store, after Ant Group’s Alipay, Tencent Holdings’ WeChat Pay and state-run China UnionPay, according to reports on Tuesday by online local media IThome and MyDrivers. Ant Group is the fintech affiliate of Alibaba Group Holding, owner of the South China Morning Post.

Launched in January 2021, Douyin Pay is a service under ByteDance-owned domestic short video platform Douyin, the Chinese sibling of TikTok. Douyin had about 766.5 million monthly active users, according to data published last month by digital marketing agency Sekkei Digital Group.

The potential addition of Douyin Pay to the mainland App Store reflects the continued growth of mobile payment services in the world’s second-largest economy, where Alipay and WeChat Pay dominate the vast market.

ByteDance-owned Douyin had an estimated 766.5 million monthly active users on the mainland. Photo: Shutterstock

Meanwhile, supposedly leaked images online of the iPhone 17 have triggered heated discussion on Chinese social media about the alleged new design.

One image of a presumed iPhone 17 Pro model showed a large horizontal camera “island” on the back of the handset. That design was initially seen on Casetify’s new iPhone 17 cases last week, when the images were mistakenly posted on the company’s website. Those images were subsequently removed.

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