Recently, some McDonald’s China locations have started introducing new POS terminals that support UnionPay, Visa, Master, and JCB credit cards, and also allow payments via Apple Pay + VISA/Master/JCB. This is still relatively uncommon in mainland China, where very few POS terminals support Apple Pay + V/M. Because Apple Pay has an agreement with UnionPay, Apple Pay in mainland China is basically dominated by UnionPay; even many upscale hotels only let you tap or swipe the physical machine and do not allow payment through Apple Pay.

Previously, the only option was to use WeChat Pay as an intermediary for using US credit cards, and many stores in many cities did not support that either. Now you can use these machines to pay directly with a card, or use Apple Pay with a Visa/Master credit card. Apple Pay acceptance also means you may be able to complete certain Apple Pay promo tasks, such as bonus points or cashback.

Note the Golden Arches “M” logo on the machine. Image from reader CK

For now, the number of supported locations is still fairly limited, though at least stores in Hangzhou seem to work. In fact, many places in Hangzhou already accept V/M credit cards directly, so this is not too surprising. The only disappointment is that AMEX is not supported. At the moment, aside from WeChat Pay and Taobao, nobody seems to like AMEX.

H/T: reader CK