Apple is developing a new service that effectively turns your iPhone into a payment terminal, allowing businesses to accept payments directly on their iPhones without any additional hardware, according to a Bloomberg report published Thursday.
The feature has been anticipated following Apple’s acquisition of Canadian start-up Mobeewave for $100 million in 2020. The startup is credited for developing a technology for smartphones that accepts payments with a tap of the phone.
This upcoming service would bypass merchants’ need for third-party hardware, including the devices made by Square, and would reportedly integrate tap-to-pay tech on iPhones. This would allow businesses to accept payments on the back of their devices via a tap of a credit card of another iPhone, the report says. iPhones would likely rely on the NFC chip for this upcoming service.
Apple is preparing to rollout the feature “in the coming months”, the report says. On Wednesday, Apple released iOS 15.3 — its latest software update for iPhones and iPads that fix several security flaws, including a Safari bug that lets websites you visit see your browsing history and other personal data.
Apple didn’t immediately respond to a CNET request for comment.
