The retail landscape has certainly changed a lot from back in the day. Back then, if you were running a small stall at a farmer’s market or flea market, the only way you could accept payment on the spot would be cash.
However, thanks to companies like Square, they created portable credit card readers that could be attached to smartphones, thus allowing retailers to accept credit/debit cards from their customers, but all of that could soon be moot. This is because according to a report from Bloomberg, Apple is working on an iOS update that will allow iPhones to accept card payments without additional hardware.
As you might know, it took Apple a while to introduce NFC to its iPhones, long after many Android devices were already using it. We’ve already seen NFC used for Apple Pay, and now this report claims that the iOS update will allow iPhones to accept card payments simply by tapping the card on the back of the iPhone, like you would on a contactless credit card reader.
This shouldn’t be too surprising given that back in 2020, Apple acquired startup Mobeewave that was working on tech that allowed smartphones to accept NFC payments, so this would basically be Apple putting their investment to good use. This is great news for retailers who might be running small stalls or popup booths and want to give their customers more options when it comes to paying for goods or services.
There is no word on when this iOS update is expected to launch, but with WWDC kicking off mid-year, maybe we’ll learn more about it then.
Filed in . Read more about iOS and iPhone. Source: macrumors