Is Apple changing the face of contactless payments?

Mobile contactless spending is on the rise on the UK high street according to new data from Worldpay, with a 336% year-on-year increase recorded in the first half of 2017.

And it looks like Apple is on the verge of taking this technology to the next level.

In fact there has been a consistent rise in the use of mobile devices to make payments since the introduction of Apple Pay in 2015, and for many the tap-and-pay process is synonymous with Apple’s Touch ID verification.

Therefore the news that the next iPhone 8 is rumoured to have replaced its fingerprint sensor with facial recognition software has come as a shock to many.

According to numerous sources the phone will be able to register its owner’s face in just a few hundred milliseconds, allowing them to unlock their devices from afar. Rumours suggest it will also include infrared cameras to allow the technology to work in the dark, and processors to allow the phone to read your face even when it is lying flat on a surface.

The ambition is that this will offer speed, as well as security and accuracy. Of course all of this is still to be confirmed by Apple themselves, and we should wait to draw conclusions until the launch next month.

In any case it will be interesting to see how Apple, who have undoubtedly led the way with contactless technology to date, might steer future developments in the mobile payment space with their next developments.