![Internet Addiction Here's what an iPhone screen made of sapphire would mean](https://api.time.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/499479381.jpg?quality=85&w=2400)
![](https://api.time.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/fortunelogo-blue1.png?w=2400&quality=75)
This post is in partnership with Fortune, which offers the latest business and finance news. Read the article below originally published at Fortune.com.
By Philip Elmer-DeWitt
It’s not official, but good journalists at Wired and the Financial Times reported Thursday that Apple’s next generation of consumer devices — iPhones for sure, wearable devices maybe — will come equipped with a NFC (near field communication) chip for making mobile payments.
This is big news, in part because Apple is so late to the NFC party.
The rest of the world switched to the technology years ago. Google, Samsung, Nokia, Sony, Blackberry, Visa, MasterCard. It’s the way credit cards talk to banks and retailers in most of the countries of Europe and Asia.
But not in the U.S.
That’s about to change. Visa and MasterCard have set an October 2015 deadline for U.S. retailers to switch from magnetic strips to embedded chips. If Apple wants in on the game, now’s the time.
For the rest of the story, please go to Fortune.com.
More Must-Reads from TIME
- Breaking Down the 2024 Election Calendar
- How Nayib Bukele’s ‘Iron Fist’ Has Transformed El Salvador
- What if Ultra-Processed Foods Aren’t as Bad as You Think?
- How Ukraine Beat Russia in the Battle of the Black Sea
- Long COVID Looks Different in Kids
- How Project 2025 Would Jeopardize Americans’ Health
- What a $129 Frying Pan Says About America’s Eating Habits
- The 32 Most Anticipated Books of Fall 2024
Contact us at letters@time.com