Apple is reportedly working on a deal with Visa to have everything in place to make the iPhone 6 your new digital wallet this fall. The agreement would let iPhone owners pay for products and services just as they would with their credit card, but from their smartphone instead.
Apple, Visa deal could turn your iPhone into a digital credit card
Talks with Visa and other payment-industry companies are ongoing, according to The Information, and Apple is hoping to have everything ready to go for a fall launch. Assuming Apple and Visa strike a deal, the iPhone could prove to be a more secure system for credit card payments thanks to Touch ID and the A7 processor's Secure Enclave feature.
The digital wallet market is fragmented and all but nonexistent in the United States. Apple could change that thanks to the iPhone's popularity and by relying on WiFi and Bluetooth LE for handling transactions instead of NFC or other fragmented technologies.
Apple has shown off some features from iOS 8, which is due to ship this fall, but hasn't confirmed its digital wallet plans. Rumors that the company wants to turn out iPhones into electronic payment devices, however, have been circulating since before the iPhone 5S was released.
So far there hasn't been any word from other companies saying they have deals in place with Apple for transaction processing. Considering Apple has been trying out iPhone-based payments in its own retail stores, however, agreements with other retailers could be coming soon.