iOS has pretty low market share in Malaysia. around 20%
Here in Sweden iOS has 62% market share. And still nobody uses apple pay. Formally it exists. But I've never seen a shop that accepts it. Too much hassle and cost for the shops to have one more payment solution.

Most use terminals that are identical to those in malaysia. Alot of small businesses like at open air maket, stalls etc use izettle https://www.izettle.com/ Which is a physical addon to a smartphone. And all do support paywave. I'm sure the technology to support ApplePay is everywhere. But I think few customers or merchants see the need for yet another cashless paymethod. Also Applepay always have a cc in the background. So it's just another way to use the VISA/MC.

The only places where you cannot pay with VISA/MC like flea markets, and other transactions with individuals you can pay with Swish, which is a bit similar to Wechatpay or Alipay in China. So people do pay with their phones alot anyway.