Apple is facing antitrust scrutiny in Switzerland over access to the NFC chip inside iPhone. The Swiss Competition Commission announced this week that they are “investigating whether Apple’s terms and conditions for granting access could raise competition law concerns.”
“Among other things, it seeks to clarify whether other providers of mobile payment apps can effectively compete with Apple Pay for contactless payments with iOS devices in shops,” the commission says.
As a refresher, Apple opened up access to the iPhone’s NFC chip to third-parties worldwide last August, several months after it did so in the European Union.
The functionality is provided as part of the NFC & SE Platform API, which lets third-party apps replicate Apple Wallet features like payments, digital keys for doors and cars, IDs, event tickets, and more.
To gain access to the iPhone’s NFC chip and Secure Element, however, developers are required to “enter into a commercial agreement with Apple and “pay the associated fees.”
The Swiss Competition Commission says it is now “conducting a preliminary investigation to determine whether the terms and conditions for granting access” comply with Swiss antitrust law. As part of this process, the commission is fathering information and insights from players in this market. The commission also says that it has been in talks with Apple throughout this process.
The Secretariat has been in dialogue with Apple since early 2024 to enable Swiss app providers to access the NFC interface on iOS devices as well. As a consequence, Apple has been granting Swiss third-party app providers access to the NFC & SE platform on iOS devices since late 2024. The Secretariat is now conducting a preliminary investigation to determine whether the terms and conditions for granting access – which differ from those applicable in the EEA – comply with Swiss antitrust law. To this end, the Secretariat continues to gather information and insights from the markets.
The outcome here remains to be seen. The issue seems to be the terms and fees Apple implemented, not necessarily the technical functionality of how third parties access to the iPhone’s NFC and SE.
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