It looks like Apple is working on a way to accept direct payments through your iPhone. This feature could be available sometime in 2022.
iPhones may soon accept contactless payments directly
Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman reports that Apple is planning to offer a new service that will let your iPhone accept payments directly, rather than just make payments. According to Gurman, the concept has been in development since 2020 and will likely use the same near-field communications (NFC) chip already used for Apple Pay.
As Gurman notes, iPhones have been able to serve as a payment method for a while through services like Apple Pay, but accepting payments requires an external terminal, such as a Square plug-in device or a credit card reader connected via Bluetooth.
Once this new feature is available, users will be able to accept payments by tapping their credit card (or iPhone) against the back of their iPhone.