The smartphone is Switzerland's new wallet

Kim Muntinga

17.2.2026

Translation: machine translated

Wallets are increasingly being left at home. According to the Visa Payment Monitor 2025, the Swiss prefer to pay with their smartphone rather than with a card or cash for the first time. A change that can be clearly seen in the figures.

You hold your smartphone up to the terminal, the tone sounds and the payment goes through. What was considered a cumbersome gimmick a few years ago is now the preferred way to pay in Switzerland. This is shown by the latest Visa Payment Monitor 2025, which Visa conducted together with the market research institute Forsa in November 2025 among 1022 people aged 18 and over in Switzerland.

28 per cent of respondents named their smartphone as their preferred means of payment. Debit cards followed in second place with 27 per cent, while cash came in third place with 25 per cent, falling to bronze for the first time in Switzerland. However, the preference does not say everything about everyday life: Many people use several payment methods in parallel, depending on the situation, location and amount.

Young adults pay, older adults follow

The change is not happening to everyone at the same time. But it is spreading. Among 18- to 35-year-olds, two out of three people (66 per cent) already make mobile payments at the checkout. In the population as a whole, around one in two (49 per cent) hold their smartphone up to the payment terminal.

Almost three quarters (72 per cent) of young adults believe that it should be possible to pay by card or mobile everywhere today. Any retailer or restaurant that does not yet accept contactless payment risks losing this customer base: Just under one in three (30 per cent) of the total population actively avoid shops that do not accept digital payments.

The so-called «wallet test» is also revealing: if you are faced with the choice of leaving either your smartphone or your wallet at home: What do you take with you? Six out of ten Swiss people now opt for their smartphone. The wallet has lost its natural place in this equation.

Switzerland is ahead in the DACH region

A look at neighbouring Germany shows how differently the trend is developing in German-speaking countries. According to the Visa Payment Monitor 2025 - which was also conducted in Germany - debit cards are ahead of cash (27 per cent) for the first time, at 38 per cent. The smartphone is still in third place in Germany with 23 per cent.

Mobile payments are also catching up noticeably here: In 2020, one in eight people (12 per cent) occasionally paid with their smartphone, whereas today it is already just under one in three (32 per cent). In comparison, Switzerland is the clear pioneer and is showing where the journey could also take Germany.

Twint: from a ridiculed niche service to one of Switzerland's strongest brands

If you want to understand mobile payment in Switzerland, Twint is a must. Just a few years ago, the Swiss banks' payment service was sometimes ridiculed: too cumbersome, not widespread enough, too regional. Those days are over. By 2025, Twint will have over six million active users. The brand is so deeply anchored in everyday life that «twinten» has entered the Swiss language as a verb.

In 2020, Twint recorded 901 million transactions - an increase of 17 per cent compared to the previous year (773 million). By comparison: in 2017, the first year of nationwide operation, there were only four million transactions. Around 81 per cent of bricks-and-mortar shops and 86 per cent of online shops in Switzerland now accept Twint as a means of payment. Of the more than 900 million transactions last year, 77 per cent were of a commercial nature, for example at the checkout or in online shops. The remaining 23 per cent flowed back and forth between private individuals.

Twint wants to develop further in the coming years: The platform is to be opened up for digital currencies such as stablecoins and for solutions with the planned Swiss E-ID.

PayPal pushes into the German supermarket

While Switzerland has its own established solution with Twint, various suppliers in Germany are fighting for supermarket checkouts. PayPal - the undisputed number one in German online retail with a sales share of around 28.5 per cent - has been extending its influence to bricks-and-mortar retail since early summer 2025. The principle: you store a virtual debit Mastercard in the existing PayPal app, which you can use to make contactless payments wherever Mastercard is accepted.

Around nine months after the launch, 7.6 million German users have registered for this function, according to PayPal product manager Alexander Bellabarba. Germany is currently the only market in the world where PayPal offers this feature. The company leaves open whether there is active use behind the registrations. PayPal does not provide specific transaction figures.

At least: the US company has created facts in the German market before its European counterpart Wero - supported by savings banks, Volksbanken, Commerzbank and other banks - is even present at the checkout.

Security remains the key question

As dynamic as the development is, one reservation remains in both countries: Real-time transfers do not yet enjoy complete trust. In Switzerland, 72 per cent of respondents expressed concerns about instant payments. Mainly because money transferred cannot be reversed. According to the Visa Payment Monitor, security remains the most important aspect of payment for the Swiss population.

Meanwhile, half of the Swiss (51 per cent) believe that it will be normal to pay without cash in five years' time. The next editions of the Visa Payment Monitor will show whether this is true. According to the current figures, however, the direction seems clear.

Kim Muntinga

Editor

Kim.Muntinga@galaxus.de

My interests are varied, I just like to enjoy life. Always on the lookout for news about darts, gaming, films and series.

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