Apple is reportedly set to turn iPhones into contactless payment terminals.
Bloomberg reports that the tech giant is said to be planning to make it possible to tap a credit card or debit card on the device to make purchases on their smartphones.
At present, Square provides businesses with a square dock to tap to make payments via iPhone, meaning they'd become rivals of Apple.
The outlet claims that the new feature will officially launch in Spring, but could roll out sooner.
Meanwhile, it was recently revealed that Apple is going to make more of its own chips for its devices.
The company is reportedly working to design more chip components in-house, with the company said to be establishing a new office with the aim of replacing components that Apple currently sources from Broadcom and Skyworks.
The office is in its early stages, but it will eventually focus on “wireless radios, radio-frequency integrated circuits and a wireless system-on-a-chip,” in addition to “semiconductors for connecting to Bluetooth and Wi-Fi”.
Currently, many of the components of Apple’s iPhones are supplied by Skyworks and Broadcom, but Apple would instead like to create their own chips in order to make for more bespoke hardware overall.
One of the most prominent examples of third-party chips is the iPhone’s modem, which is currently manufactured by Qualcomm.
Apple is known to be looking into developing its own 5G chips instead of paying for Qualcomm’s chips and is looking to switch over as early as 2023.
