Apple has made concessions to the EU and agreed to open up access to NFC payments on iPhones to third-party vendors

The European Commission appears to have put an end to Apple Pay and Apple Wallet's exclusive access to the iPhone's NFC payment features. Apple has agreed to open up access to NFC payments on its devices to third-party providers.

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This dispute has been going on for almost 4 years - since June 2020, when the European Commission opened two antitrust investigations against Apple over App Store and Apple Pay rules. The fact is that NFC payment features on Apple devices are exclusive to the company's own programmes - Apple Pay and Wallet.

But now Apple agrees to give third-party vendors access to NFC payments. As a result, users will be able to pay with third parties and not just through Apple Pay and Wallet.

"Through our ongoing discussions with the European Commission, we have offered commitments to provide third-party developers in the European Economic Area with an option that will enable their users to make NFC contactless payments from within their iOS apps, separate from Apple Pay and Apple Wallet", Apple told the Wall Street Journal in a statement.

Whether these commitments will apply outside of the European Union is unknown.

The proposed commitments would be in effect for 10 years. If Apple fails to comply or violates them - it could face a fine of 10 per cent of its global annual turnover.

Source: Wall Street Journal, The Verge