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The news: Apple鈥檚 F1: The Movie made $144 million globally in its opening weekend, becoming the company鈥檚 first box office success after prior flops. With standout reviews and marketing synced across the Apple ecosystem, the Brad Pitt-led film was driven by premium formats like IMAX and high youth turnout. Our take: F1 validates Apple鈥檚 blockbuster ambitions, but success here is about more than ticket sales. It鈥檚 a brand-building tool, aimed at strengthening Apple TV+ and its wider services. Turning big-screen moments into lasting streaming growth is the next test鈥攅specially as Apple balances cost, competition, and the evolving economics of global theatrical releases.

Payment provider innovation and regulatory changes are setting a long-term growth runway for cryptocurrency payments. But providers will still need to overcome low merchant acceptance and a sense of mistrust before crypto can go mainstream.

This decision feeds into the rising enthusiasm for stablecoin as the future of payments.

Mobile apps enhance omnichannel consumer journeys through key features, including providing real-time inventory visibility, product information, and in-store wayfinding; storing coupons and promos in a digital wallet; and enabling cashierless checkout technology such as scan-and-go and proximity mobile payments.

Retail media ad spending in France, Germany, and the UK continues to rise, outpacing all other ad formats. The space is developing rapidly despite fragmentation and a lack of standards.

AI-forward, frictionless customer experience helps ensure Google Pay鈥檚 consistent use.

Consumers are slowly making changes to how they pay at checkout. We look at the top seven payment methods and delve into what鈥檚 pushing forward and detracting from their growth.

At Cannes Lions 2025, commerce media partnerships once again reigned supreme. Once the domain of digital shelf tactics and retail data, commerce media is now reshaping how brands show up across social platforms, connected TV (CTV), and in-store displays. This year鈥檚 festival offered a glimpse into a more integrated, AI-driven future鈥攐ne where conversational ads, programmatic pipes, and real-world touchpoints blur the lines between media and purchase.

Improved cash flow management: Instant payments let consumers immediately process and settle bills, transfer funds to cover shortfalls, and transfer funds into digital wallets to make purchases. In an October 2023 PYMNTS.com survey, 74.1% of consumers cited speed and the guarantee of good funds as a reason they preferred instant payments.

Reeling from 2024鈥檚 challenges, financial institutions must embrace bold strategies in 2025 to future-proof their businesses in a landscape plagued by economic, competitive, and regulatory pressures.

The news: Google Cloud is creating its own blockchain, named Google Cloud Universal Ledger (GCUL), for payments and financial products. Our first take: The post-GENIUS Act environment has major institutions scrambling to get a first-mover advantage on stablecoins. Google likely is betting that it鈥檚 better positioned to offer clients and financial institutions than Stripe鈥檚 Tempo or Circle鈥檚 Arc because its blockchain service simplifies integration for multiple currencies and assets, stabilizes fees, and is designed for safety鈥攁s a private and permissioned system, it benefits from Google鈥檚 tech security stack.

The news: Cash App launched 鈥減ools鈥濃�攁 feature to make group payments frictionless鈥攖o a limited number of US-based users with plans for a later wider rollout, per a press release. Our take: Cash App wants to cement itself among Gen Z users, households making up to $150,000 annually, and the populations traditionally overlooked by legacy financial institutions.

Digital wallets are a key channel for this: Providers can fashion their mobile apps into shopping destinations to capture volume even on purchases for which consumers don鈥檛 want to use installments. They can also push Pay Now directly at checkout. For example, in February, Klarna launched Sign in with Klarna, which automatically fills in a user鈥檚 details at checkout.

Agentic AI gains momentum: As Amazon, Walmart, eBay and others experiment with AI agents, retailers need to to figure out how to market to bots in addition to humans.

Economic uncertainty could derail its efforts to reinvigorate growth

Google has entered the AI shopping arena: The company鈥檚 AI Mode experience aims to assist consumers throughout every step of the shopping experience鈥攆rom finding inspiration to buying at the right moment.

In the first 100 days of his second term, President Trump has reshaped business strategy across retail, tech, healthcare, and media. Here鈥檚 how tariffs, regulation, and market volatility are forcing brands to rethink spend, growth, and planning.

Gen Z is the first mobile payments-native generation. By 2028, 67.8% of US adults will be mobile wallet users, per our forecast. Gen Zers are already way ahead: 85.1% made an in-store or online payment using their phone in 2023, according to Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta.

Remittances represent a large share of global payments and will keep growing鈥攁lthough at a flat rate. Traditional money transfer organizations have to fight harder for a share of the prize as digital-only entrants have stepped up the competition.