• by Chuck Martin , Staff Writer, August 2, 2015

Paying with an iPhone is growing both by the number of people doing it and how often.

But the percentage of people using Apple Pay seems to have stabilized at fewer than half of those who own an iPhone 6, the only Apple phone with payment capabilities built in.

While the percentage of IPhone owners using Apple Pay has stayed the same, the overall number is larger because more of the phones have been sold.

More than one in four (42%) of iPhone owners have used Apple Pay in June, the same as in February and April, according to the latest tracking report.

The Auriemma Consulting Group (ACG) Apple Pay Tracker comprised interviews with 500 iPhone 6 and iPhone 6+ owners.

On the plus side for Apple, the majority (84%) of Apple Pay users made more than three transactions in stores and 76% have used it more than three times in apps.

As in most mobile payment systems, the phone is only half of the equation, the other half being the technology necessary for a merchant to be able to accept any particular mobile payment.

In the case of Apple Pay users, only 13% had used it in more than six stores in April. Two months later, that number had grown to 24%.

Using Apple Pay for apps also increased during that time, from 1% of uses to 10%.

The killer stat for retailer deployment is that 70% of Apple Pay users say they are more likely to shop in a store that accepts Apple Pay.

The reality is that Apple Pay sales volume accounts for only a tiny share of overall credit and debit card sales, the report notes, and that is not likely to change soon.

Especially of the adoption rate stays at 42%.