Apple is rumored to be turning the iPhone into a payment terminal

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According to a report published by Bloomberg, Apple is adding a new feature to the iPhone: Allows users to turn their iPhone into a payment terminal without relying on additional hardware such as a POS machine. Once this feature is available, merchants will be able to collect payments directly from consumers’ credit cards using the iPhone.

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According to sources, this is actually a new feature that Apple has been developing since 2020 when Apple acquired Canadian company Mobeewave for $100 million to turn the iPhone into a payment terminal. Apple appears to be ready to roll out the feature nearly two years after the acquisition, with Bloomberg saying it is expected to announce the feature at a virtual online event in March or April of this year.

It is not new for smartphones to become payment terminals. In theory, as long as the mobile phone supports the NFC function, payment can be realized through the software level.

Apple may use Apple Pay + NFC to complete the payment function at that time. Merchants need to submit an application and activate the corresponding function, and then use NFC to collect payment.

Of course, not all iPhones support this function, because Apple has built-in NFC chips since iPhone 7, so the minimum support is at least iPhone 7 and above. It still needs to wait for Apple’s official announcement, after all, the iPhone 7 is also a very old device.

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