Apple Pay can get better and faster

Contactless payment with Apple Pay works fine, but the service can be a lot better and faster. We’ll show you how this is possible.

Apple Pay can get better and faster

It has to do with the technology that makes Apple Pay possible: NFC (Near Field Communication). This form of data communication is specially designed for use over very short distances. Currently, the NFC standard is defined at a range of 5mm.

The NFC Forum, which sets these standards, plans to significantly increase the range. This will soon make it possible to use the technique at a distance of up to 30 mm.

Improved speed and reliability

This may not sound like a big change, but it improves both the reliability and speed of Apple Pay payments.

Reliability increases because you no longer have to hold your iPhone or Apple Watch so close to the terminal. This is useful when the receiver is in an illogical place. The speed increases because the transaction can already be started while you are still moving your iPhone or Apple Watch towards the terminal.

NFC becomes multifunctional

At the same time, the NFC Forum plans to expand the NFC standard with new applications. At the moment you can only perform one action at a time with NFC, but that should also change according to recent reports. In practice, this means that Apple Pay gets better because you can make a payment and present your bonus card, for example. So both with one action.

Apple Pay could be better: just a little more patience

As usual, these types of extensions take quite a bit of time. According to the NFC Forum, work on the improvements has already started, but it will take at least two to five years before you can use them as an end user. It’s also likely that Apple products will need new NFC chips that support the improved standards.

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