The Commission’s NFC inquiry had already moved from considering rules that could require access to the technology to reports that a formal charge sheet was imminent. The preliminary finding turns that expected enforcement step into a defined competition case centered on iPhone payment access.
The dispute matters because the NFC layer determines who can offer tap-and-go payments on iPhones. It is an early test of whether the EU will treat a platform-controlled hardware interface as an access bottleneck rather than solely a product feature.
First-order effects
Apple must respond to a Commission case that identifies its NFC-access policy as an alleged abuse in mobile payments.
Payment competitors seeking to use iPhone NFC gain a formal regulatory challenge to the access limits that favor Apple Pay.
Second-order effects
Apple’s payment terms and technical access rules become the focal point of the case, increasing pressure to distinguish device security controls from restrictions on competing wallets.
The finding gives the Commission a live enforcement route alongside its earlier consideration of rules requiring NFC access, putting mobile-wallet competition on iPhones under sustained scrutiny.
Third-order effects
If the Commission’s approach holds, control of device interfaces such as NFC will be treated as platform-gatekeeper power subject to interoperability obligations, not just proprietary product design.
The case points toward interface-neutral oversight in which regulated access layers become a recurring antitrust and platform-governance issue.
The trend: EU platform enforcement is extending from app-distribution rules to the hardware and software access layers that determine whether rival services can reach users.
Today we have send @Apple a statement of objections. We are concerned that @Apple may have illegally distorted competition in the market for mobile wallets on @Apple devices. Now @Apple can answer our concerns.
We have informed Apple of our preliminary view that it abused its dominant position in markets for mobile wallets on iOS devices. Our preliminarily findings show that Apple may have restricted competition, to the benefit of its solution Apple Pay. ℹ️ https://europa.eu/!QFBpnV
As expected, the EU will (eventually) order Apple to open up NFC/Apple Pay APIs to competitors (interestingly Apple just announced APIs to take payment, just not to make payment) https://ec.europa.eu/...
You can only tap to pay with Apple Pay on an iPhone but not any 3rd party app like PayPal or Cash app. EU regulators are considering this an antitrust violation. I'm curious what rubric regulators use to decide an OS feature should be available to apps? https://www.wsj.com/...
.@vestager says that Apple's argument that its NFC lock is necessary for user security does not hold water. “Our investigation to date did not reveal any evidence that would point to such a higher risk,” she says. https://twitter.com/...
🇪🇺 @EU_Competition has sent a chargesheet to Apple alleging that its lock on the NFC chip restricts competition in the mobile wallets market on iOS. https://twitter.com/...
.@vestager brings in Digital Markets Act #DMA - which would prohibit Apple's exclusive use of their NFC. In the same breath MV rebuts Apple's ‘security’ argument...EC's decision will “set a precedent for security concerns,” she says.
Commission sends Statement of Objections to Apple - taking aim at company's Near-Field Communication (NFC) tech, which other mobile wallets app developers can't access. Apple's ringfencing of their NFC would engender material & anticompetitive benefits to Apple Pay, EC claims. ht…
Popular view is #DMA will put an end to #antitrust enforcement at @EU_Commission against Big Tech. @vestager proving the contrary today: sends formal charge sheet to @Apple over its mobile pay technology & access to the NFC chip https://ec.europa.eu/...