FYI… Apple Pay does work in Thailand. It works almost everywhere that a merchant has a contactless debit card or credit card reader or pay point.
Apple Pay is merely a means of transmitting your card details wirelessly and is not a limiting factor. So the real issue that is actually preventing many people from using Apple Pay in Thailand is that all local Thai banks (AFAIK) still don’t allow you to add their debit and credit cards yet to digital wallets. So it’s not an Apple Pay issue per say.
However, most overseas issued credit or debit cards can be added to Apple Pay and can be used to make contactless purchases in Thailand.
One of the best cards for making contactless payments at any point of sale is Wise. So if you have a Wise account and a Wise debit card it can be used with Apple Pay almost everywhere in Thailand.
Since Wise also allows you to keep Thai Baht in a borderless Wise account, you can also pay using Thai Baht in Thailand despite having an overseas issued debit card. This prevents all the usual added charges and currency exchange fees for using an overseas debit or credit card denominated in a foreign currency. Thus, using a Wise debit card for purchases in Thailand has no added fees.
The Wise card with Apple Pay works contactlessly in 7-11, Tops, Villa, Central, Big-C, and Lotus just to name a few of the many places that it works.
Some places in Thailand might say that they only accept credit cards and not debit cards, like 7-11, but the Wise debit card still works there anyway.
Most places now also no longer have a minimum purchase amount on debit card purchases. So you can purchase something as small as a 7 Baht bottle of drinking water using Apple Pay. Just tap and go. Faster than cash in many cases.