Apple Inc. introduced its contactless payment service in South Africa on Tuesday, as the global tech giant looks to cash in on the mobile payments boom in the country.

The use of digital finance and payments systems has surged in South Africa and elsewhere as the coronavirus crisis has prompted a shift towards e-commerce and contactless payments.

Apple Pay has joined Samsung’s digital wallet offering, Samsung Pay, which was launched in South Africa in 2018.

Apple said it had launched the service without giving details.

The service is available via three South African banks, namely Absa Group, Nedbank Group and Discovery Bank, which is part of the Discovery group.

Reporting by Akhona Matshoba; Editng by Promit Mukherjee and Edmund Blair / REUTERS