Apple has until the month’s end to address a series of technical and legal matters posed by CADE, Brazil’s competition authority, concerning purported anticompetitive practices related to the iPhone’s NFC. Here are the specifics.
## Apple’s NFC regulations still facing scrutiny in Brazil
Last month, Apple claimed that Brazilian banks were attempting to gain an “unfair advantage” in an anticompetitive investigation regarding contactless payments on the iPhone.
This inquiry began last year, following a request from Brazil’s central bank (Banco Central) and the banking association Febraban for CADE to examine whether Apple was unjustly restricting third-party payment providers’ access to the iPhone’s NFC compared to its own offerings.
Since then, Apple has contended that there is “no provision in Brazilian law that forbids [it] from imposing a fee for its services,” while highlighting that it possesses merely 10% of the nation’s smartphone market and that third-party developers have been utilizing the iPhone’s NFC since 2024.
Apple has also asserted that the Brazilian market is well-equipped with payment alternatives, arguing that Apple Pay is not “harmful to consumers, nor does it exclude competitors.” Nevertheless, thus far, these arguments have failed to convince regulators.
This week, as reported by Folha de S. Paulo (via MacMagazine), CADE has intensified its investigation:
> “On Tuesday (17), the agency issued a formal notification to the tech firm, asking for details regarding fees, technical specifications, and agreements made with developers in Brazil. The company has until March 30 to reply.”
As we reported last month, this investigation partially focuses on PIX, a domestic, cost-free, and instantaneous payment system introduced in 2020 that is by far the most popular payment method in the country:
> Last year, Banco Central introduced a contactless protocol for PIX, which Apple (unlike Google) has declined to implement, considering it a non-essential feature for Brazilians, who still predominantly use PIX payments via QR codes instead of the relatively new contactless option.
As noted by Folha de S. Paulo, Apple also appears to be attempting to evade classification as a so-called Payment Transaction Initiator, “a regulatory category overseen by the Central Bank that would impose requirements regarding interoperability and access.”
So far, Apple has not provided any commentary on CADE’s recent request.