Apple is thought to be working on a way to allow iPhones to accept payments directly and without need of any other hardware.

As Bloomberg reports, Apple acquired Mobeewave last your for $100 million. The Canadian company was developing a method of accepting payments from NFC-enabled credit cards simply by tapping them against the back of a smartphone.

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Apple already offers NFC-enabled phones, has Apple Pay to handle payment processing, and the tech to enable contactless credit card payments thanks to the Mobeewave acquisition. People with "knowledge of the matter" believe Apple is preparing to roll out the feature, and with it render the payment terminals currently used with iPhones unnecessary.

As the system relies on technology already available in existing iPhone models, launching this new payment feature simply requires a software update. As to when it will launch, Bloomberg believes it's only a few months away and could form part of an iOS 15 update, possibly even iOS 15.4, which is expected in the spring.