FORECAST: By 2018, 1.5bn mobile wallets will be in use across eight regions. Click to enlarge

There will be more than 1.5billion mobile wallets in use around the world by 2018, according to a new forecast from Juniper Research, representing one in five handsets and up from one in 10 at the end of 2013.

Globally, one in three mobile wallets will support contactless payments by 2018, with 50% of mobile wallets in use in developed markets including contactless support, Mobile Wallets: Strategies for Developed and Developing Markets 2014-2019 predicts.

Growth will be driven by two distinct wallet models, the report concludes. In emerging and developing markets, “a surge in deployments” of stored value accounts is expected, particularly across sub-Saharan Africa, developing Asia and Latin America.

In North America and Western Europe, meanwhile, mobile wallets “are increasingly expected” to feature contactless payment functionality.

Adoption of contactless payments will be boosted by the arrival of host card emulation (HCE) and “the anticipated launch of an Apple iWallet later this year”, Juniper says.