I can't comment on the worldwide aspect, but plenty of challenger banks allow you to add your card to your Apple Pay/Google Pay wallets immediately after account opening; without having to wait for the physical card.
Oh right. I might say it from the 7 years old point of view. But you should also consider that only a few countries support Apple Pay/Google Pay yet - Neither of them are available in Korea for example. And withdrawing cash is even harder with them.
In my experience (with a few exceptions), Apple Pay will work at nearly any merchant that accepts PayWave (obviously with a Visa card), even if Apple Pay hasn't landed in that country yet.