Payment card technology revenue to exceed $11.7 billion globally

A new study has found that global payment card shipment revenue for technology companies will reach $11.7 billion in 2026, from $9.7 billion in 2022.

This 20% increase reflects new innovations emerging in the payment cards space while the contactless cards roll-out is reaching its latter stages.

The new research predicts the introduction of biometric cards, metal cards and dynamic CVV (Card Verification Value) cards as being majorly disruptive trends over the next five years. These new card types all have the same aim – to make cards fit for the new, digital-first payments ecosystem.

The research found that these new card types will help evolve the payment experience for the digital age, increasing security and usability; making card usage more appealing in the face of increasing mobile-first payment innovations.

Metal Cards Driving Revenue

The research found that metal cards will account for over $4.4 billion in hardware revenue for technology providers globally in 2026, from $1.2 billion in 2022. The research identified the premium appearance of metal cards as highly appealing as a differentiator; driving their future growth.

Biometric Cards Have Strong Potential

The research also found that the use of biometric cards, which feature embedded fingerprint sensors, will grow significantly, with shipments expected to increase by almost 850% over the next five years to 173 million in 2026 globally.

Biometric cards will enable card payments to better compete with mobile payments, including Apple Pay and Google Pay, eventually allowing payment cards to have no transaction limits. The report recognised this development as critical in removing the barriers to growth for contactless payments.

“Banks and card issuers need to differentiate themselves in order to retain relevance in the digital payments era – adding value to their services by using new card types can add significant value and reduce churn with existing relationships,” notes Research co-author Damla Sat.