Apple will let shoppers pay merchants by holding phones together
CNN
Apple on Tuesday said it plans to introduce a contactless payment option later this year that will let businesses use iPhones to process transactions in stores without any additional hardware, competing with services like Square.
The new "Tap to Pay" feature will allow US merchants of all sizes to accept payments simply by holding their iPhone close to the customer's iPhone or Apple Watch. It also works with contactless credit and debit cards.
The feature, which will be included in an upcoming iOS beta update and will only be available on iPhone XS models and later, could help Apple (AAPL) deepen its relationships with retailers. According to Apple, 90% of US retailers already accept Apple Pay. (Apple doesn't break out revenue for its payments business, though its services business segment overall has been a major growth driver.)