Why Physical Payment Cards Will Remain Relevant and Resilient

Mobile payments and the overarching trend toward mobile wallets, most notably Apple Pay, Samsung Pay, and Google Pay, is not by any stretch of the imagination a new phenomenon. Perhaps it could even be argued that mobile payments should no longer be considered innovative, with high penetration and usage rates globally evident.

Despite the move toward digitization and mobile, the physical payment card endures and remains relevant. Global issuance volumes also strongly point to the fact that the physical payment card remains extremely resilient, with just under 3 billion Europay, Mastercard, Visa (EMV) payment cards issued in 2025.

This ABI Insight examines why the physical payment card remains relevant and why mobile has yet to displace or replace the physical payment card credential.

For all intents and purposes, the average person would assume that mobile payments are having a detrimental impact on the physical payment cards market. But this is not the case, and the data and insight tell us that, in actuality, the physical payment card is not going anywhere soon, driven by the following reasons:

• Increased Choice: Issuers do not want to limit payment choice or force consumers to pay in a certain way—increasing choice equates to a higher chance to transact.
• Redundancy: Although mobile wallets are highly reliable, it is not possible to achieve 100% reliability in a powered device. It’s necessary to provide a fallback should a Consumer Electronics (CE) device run out of battery.
• Issuer Touch Point: The physical card is often one of the only ways in which an issuer can have a physical touchpoint with its customers. This cannot be underestimated, as reduced touchpoints can ultimately mean reduced brand visibility and/or upsell opportunities.
• Hyper Personalization: This is now coming back into fashion with increased demand for 1 of 1 unique personalized cards, demonstrating a continued interest and investment in physical payment cards.
• Familiarity and Inclusivity: Issuers are in the business of supplying payment services to all—they cannot limit payment choice and potentially or unintentionally segregate some of their users who do not have access to a smartphone, are not tech savvy, or are simply more comfortable with the trusted physical card they have been using for generations.

It has taken approximately 40 years for the physical payment card market to get to where it is today, from mag-stripe to EMV and now contactless. Mobile wallets are around 15 years into this journey and, arguably, still in their infancy, with some way to go until mobile payments can reach the same penetration levels as the physical payment card. For this reason alone, physical payment cards will remain a market mainstay for many years to come.

There is also the question of where mobile wallet technology would be today without physical cards. Although digital-only solutions do exist, the vast majority of issuers continue to bind card information to the physical and then tokenize to the digital. With that said, the physical payment card should be considered a mobile wallet enabler, with mobile being the companion to the physical payment card outlining the continued requirement for the physical credential.

Innovation and investment in physical payment card credentials continue. Smart card vendors continue to invest heavily into the area focusing on new personalization technologies, new card bodies, and new material types. This investment continuation demonstrates not only the hyper-competitive market landscape and need to differentiate, but also a continued confidence that the physical payment card will continue to remain relevant and in high demand.

ABI Research is not saying that the physical payment card will remain relevant forever, but it will endure for many years to come. Given a historical tendency toward slow technology uptake and migration in the payment cards market, any shift away from physical to digital will likely be prolonged and steady, more likely reflective of a generational usage shift, rather than being pushed and driven by the issuers themselves.

Final Thoughts

Physical payment cards should be considered part of a larger payment toolkit with consumers able to pick which method they would like to transact with, and the requirements to address inclusivity should not be underestimated.

Physical versus digital is not a thing—they are complementary and do different things. Although digital-only solutions do exist, the digital side of the market is largely reliant on the physical card, making the physical card a digital enabler. Physical should remain an integral part of issuer strategies, building a payment toolkit to give banking customers more freedom and choice

For all the reasons outlined in this ABI Insight, the physical payment cards market WILL remain resilient and relevant. Issuers should continue to develop physical card programs.