There’s no logical reason why Apple Pay transaction costs should be limited, but in the U.K. users have been stuck with a limit of £20 ($30) since the service first debuted in July.
Thanks to the rise of people using both Apple Pay and contactless cards in general, however, that number has now been increased by 50 percent to £30 ($46).
Contactless transactions for the first half of 2015 totalled £2.5bn in the U.K., which is already significantly higher than the £2.32bn spent in 2014.
“We’ve seen unprecedented growth in this area, with the number of Visa contactless transactions more than trebling in the past year in the UK,” said Kevin Jenkins, managing director UK and Ireland at Visa Europe — describing contactless payments as the “new normal.”
While Apple Pay only arrived in the U.K. last month — and therefore can’t claim to have positively influenced the figures (unless you argue the publicity around Apple Pay in the U.S. helped spread awareness of the technology) — it does show that Apple picked the perfect time to introduce Apple Pay into its second market.
According to the U.K. Cards Association, the new £30 limit means that the average supermarket spend of £25 ($38) will now be covered. The increased limit covers both all NFC payments, including Apple Pay and contactless cards.
All in all, it’s a great move for U.K. customers, although with contactless fraud incidence being so low, does Apple Pay even need a limit at all?
Source: BBC
Luke Dormehl is a U.K.-based journalist and author, with a background working in documentary film for Channel 4 and the BBC. He is the author of The Apple Revolution and The Formula: How Algorithms Solve All Our Problems … and Create More, both published by Penguin/Random House. His tech writing has also appeared in Wired, Fast Company, Techmeme and other publications.
6 responses to “Apple Pay transaction limit rises in the U.K.”
I like to feel that I had a part to play in this article because of my BBC source on the Apple Reddit page.
ANYWAY: Also, remember that anywhere that has an Apple Pay symbol [Pay logo] (rather than just a contactless “)))” symbol) there is NO limit, because your fingerprint is used in place of your PIN. (This isn’t new, but I thought it was worth reminding British users because some aren’t aware of it.)
The problem is on most handsets, the contactless function only activates on the terminal for transactions under the limit, Apple pay logo or not. I work in two different businesses where that is the case, so I’m not sure how you’d use it for a higher limit.
Isn’t it the whole contactless limit being raised, not just Apple pay?
Contactless limit has been raised, yes. ApplePay specific terminals (a subset) were never limited as they had a specific software update by those partner merchants as they were authenticated transactions
Indeed, @jamie – this article is misleading, as are many on this matter. I’ve spent considerably more in AppleStore via ApplePay, and other places who were signe up as Apple’s pay partners. The limit is sensible for cards etc, and it’s good that ApplePay is universally accepted in Contactless Pay terminals even if capped – frankly for most transactions like coffees, a few things from a supermarket, 30£ is ample
Exactly! I’ve bought a Strap for my Watch via Apple Pay, food and drinks in Pret, and even meals for 2 in Nando’s. – all these being over the £20 cap.