Contactless on iPhone: the CMA moves to open the NFC chip to rivals

If you have an iPhone, there is exactly one way to pay with your phone in a British shop: Apple Wallet. The competition regulator thinks that should change, and on 20 October 2026 it put out for consultation a rule that would open the contactless chip to other apps.

What is the CMA actually proposing?

That Apple be required to open access to NFC — the chip you tap against the card reader — to other businesses, and that the access be commercially workable as well as technically available. The proposal takes the form of a conduct requirement under the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024. The ground for it was laid a year earlier: on 22 October 2025 the CMA published its final decision designating Apple's mobile platform as having strategic market status (SMS). The investigation itself opened on 23 January 2025.

Why does the EU have rival wallets and the UK does not?

Because Apple has already opened access there and not here. The CMA draws the comparison directly: six months after Apple agreed to provide NFC access in the EU, Vipps launched the first alternative payment app, followed by PayPal, Klarna, Curve and BBVA. In the UK, not a single firm has launched a wallet-type product to compete with Apple's.

The regulator sets out the scale involved. Contactless — by card or by phone — is now 39% of all payments, against just 3% a decade ago; UK Finance puts the 2025 figure at 19.2 billion contactless payments, up 2% on the year. Which? found that 62% of UK adults use a digital wallet, and for half of them it is Apple Wallet.

What are SE and HCE, and why is the argument about them?

They are the two contactless standards used internationally, and the difference is where the card data sits. Secure element (SE) keeps it in a protected chip inside the phone. Host-based card emulation (HCE) keeps it off the device. Neither was developed by Apple and both are long established across mobile ecosystems. In the UK Apple currently offers only SE; the CMA's proposals would require it to offer both, so developers have a choice. The regulator notes that on the evidence it has seen, neither technology raises inherent security concerns.

What will access cost?

The CMA is not proposing to set the price. It has instead proposed principles for how the price and terms should be determined, with the expectation stated plainly: charges should be substantially lower than Apple's current fees, while still fairly rewarding Apple for providing access. High fees and onerous terms are precisely what, on the regulator's account, made the market pointless to enter for British fintech firms. That sector is not small: The Data City estimates it employs 362,651 people across 3,348 companies, with a combined turnover of £213.6 billion.

Is this only about payments?

No. The CMA lists what else could follow if access is opened: digital wallets and payment services, digital IDs and age-verification tools, digital car, hotel and workplace keys, tickets and travel passes, loyalty and rewards schemes. David Geale, the FCA's executive director for consumers, payments and competition, points to open banking in particular: opening the chip would let more people pay straight from their bank account rather than through a card.

When would any of this happen?

Not yet — this is a consultation, not a decision. It closes on Tuesday 17 November 2026, and the CMA will make its final decision after assessing the responses. So the earliest point at which it will even be clear whether Apple is obliged to act is the end of November. Opening the chip, if the requirement is confirmed, would be a separate step after that.