(Yicai Global) May 9 -- Apple Pay's internet browser version has debuted in China after much delay.

The third-party online payment system is available via the Chinese Safari browser on iPads and iPhones with an iOS11.2 or higher system, according to Apple Inc.'s website. Personal computers and laptops cannot use the function for now. It became available yesterday, according to tech news outlet IT Home.

Apple unveiled the e-payment system's web version at its 2016 Worldwide Developer Conference in San Francisco, with the app to be first introduced in the US, China, Canada and Singapore. California-based Apple has not, however, released it in China until now.

Intensifying competition may lie at the root of its belated debut in the country. Alipay and WeChat Pay under Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. and Tencent Holdings Ltd. jointly claim a more than 90 percent share of the country's third-party payment market, and both have an online payment function.

Apple Pay does have competitive advantages, though. Apple will not store or share users' credit or debit card details to safeguard privacy and lower risks to merchants and developers, it pledged.

Editor: Ben Armour