Google Pay Stopped Working on Smartphones with Chinese Firmware
Following the release of Google Play Services version 26.28, owners of smartphones running China-specific firmware have been flooding the web with complaints that contactless payments via Google Wallet no longer work. According to Notebookcheck, this severe issue is particularly affecting domestic market devices from popular brands such as Xiaomi, Vivo, Oppo, and OnePlus. This was reported by Ixbt.com reported .
An investigation by experts and journalists confirmed the issue. Specifically, on a Vivo X200 Ultra running China ROM, the ability to pay via NFC disappeared after updating Google Play Services. Interestingly, within the Google Wallet app itself, all bank cards continue to appear normally without any error messages.
System Restrictions and Causes of the Issue
During further analysis conducted by XDA forum developers, the Google Play Services logs were examined. It was found that as soon as the system identifies the device as a «CN SKU», meaning a version intended for China, it automatically disables the Tap-and-Pay service responsible for payments. While this indicates it may be an intentional restriction, the company has not yet provided an official statement.To date, this issue has affected users in various parts of the world. In particular, complaints are coming in from European countries and Brazil outside of China. The malfunction has been detected in a number of flagship models, including Vivo X200 Ultra, X300 Pro, X300 Ultra, X100 Ultra, X Fold5, X Fold3 Pro, X200 Pro mini, Oppo Find N3, Oppo Find X9 Pro, and Xiaomi 17 Ultra.
Ways to Resolve the Issue
Experts and advanced users are currently offering temporary workarounds. According to them, the following methods can be used:- Downgrading Google Play Services to a previous stable version using the ADB command line
- Switching to alternative payment systems and services such as Curve Pay
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