Majority of UK payment terminals now support ‘unlimited’ value Apple Pay transactions

We noted last summer that many UK payment terminals were allowing Apple Pay transactions above the standard £30 ($39) limit for contactless cards – and Apple says this is now true of the majority of terminals.

The news was revealed by Jennifer Bailey, head of Apple’s payments business …

Bailey told the Telegraph:

“We think the majority of the contactless terminals [in the UK] are now limitless,” Ms Bailey said. Retailers now accepting the higher-value payments include supermarkets such as Waitrose and Sainsbury’s and restaurants including Pizza Express and Nando’s.

It should be noted that ‘limitless’ may need to be qualified. One retailer told me that there is still a limit to Apple Pay transactions, but not one that would be hit by most purchases. A figure of around £6-700 was mentioned.

The higher transaction values allowed when using Apple Pay is likely to have helped the growth of the service in the UK.

The company says Apple Pay transactions in the UK have grown by 300pc in the last year, with 23 banks now supporting the service. “Our momentum has been fantastic. We’re really excited about the progress,” Ms Bailey said.

Britain was already an ideal market for the service as the majority of retailers, large and small, already supported contactless payment – at least in major towns and cities. The first contactless cards were launched in the UK ten years ago, in 2007.

Bailey also repeated hints she made last year that the company’s ambition to have iPhones and Apple Watches replace our wallets weren’t limited to payment cards.

“If you think about all the things in your wallet, we’re thinking about all those things, we’re probably actively working on most of them,” she said. “We’re starting with payments. Some are longer term, we see this as a long term journey rather than something we can solve in the next 12 months.”

The UK’s Driver Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA)  last year shared an image of a British driving license stored within an Apple Pay wallet.

Photo: Evening Standard