China Unionpay is reportedly developing a competitor to Apple Pay for its domestic market, which will be called AndroidPay.
China Business News is reporting that the new service is expected to launch in the third quarter of next year, according toWant China Times.
Like Apple Pay, AndroidPay will use NFC technology and include fingerprint authentication, the report states.
UnionPay is said to have approached smartphone makers including Lenovo and Coolpad regarding incorporating the service in their devices. But a specific business model for the new service is yet to be established.
UnionPay recently teamed up with Apple to allow customers in China to purchase apps using the former company's payment card. It remains to be seen whether the rumored new payment service will impact this partnership.
The Apple Pay service, unveiled in September is a mobile payment service for the iPhone 6. Apple has partnered with American Express, MasterCard and Visa for the product.
Analysts believe Apple's size and scale will help it shake up the mobile payment market, and could provide the impetus needed to finally push m-payments into the mainstream.