MasterCard finds African consumers more engaged with smartphones than other devices

A total of 23,000 consumers in 23 countries across Europe, Africa and the Middle East were surveyed. The study gathered data from over 1.000 internet users with bank accounts between the ages of 20 and 50 in each of the three African markets surveyed – Egypt, South Africa and Kenya, africa.com reports.

In Kenya, preference for mobile payments means that 95% of Kenyans are using their smartphone as their primary device, and 86% of Kenyans believe that digital tools will be used more often by people. They are also of the belief that digital innovation will be fundamental for public transport, healthcare and education in the future.

For South Africans, it was reported that 95% of its citizens use their smartphone more than any other device. More than half of South African respondents would prefer to authenticate themselves with a fingerprint rather than a PIN when paying with a bank card.

In Egypt, two-thirds of those surveyed would rather use their mobile device to make payments over the use of a traditional card payments. This was re-iterated by 70% of respondents who would prefer to pay using their mobile phone.