Key takeaway: This is a procedural win for plaintiffs, not a ruling on the merits. The certification is not a finding that Apple violated antitrust law or did anything wrong; the case still has to be argued and decided on those questions. Still, the scale of the now-certified class means card issuers and payment networks should watch this case closely as a potential bellwether for wallet-fee litigation more broadly.
A federal judge has ruled that a lawsuit brought by three financial institutions against Apple over Apple Pay transaction fees can proceed as a class action. The ruling broadens the case’s scope and stakes for card issuers and the payment networks.
Judge Jeffrey White of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California certified the class. He separately denied Apple’s motion to exclude a damages expert put forward by the plaintiffs. The case was originally filed in 2022 by Affinity Credit Union, GreenState Credit Union, and Consumers Co-Op Credit Union. It argues that Apple has excluded competing mobile wallets from contactless transactions on the iPhone. That exclusion, the plaintiffs say, lets Apple charge issuers fees, 0.15% on credit card payments and half a cent on debit transactions, that could not survive in a genuinely competitive market. The certified class covers any U.S. issuer of an Apple Pay-enabled card that paid Apple a transaction fee. Plaintiffs say that group could run to thousands of financial institutions.
The plaintiffs argue Apple’s practices amount to an illegal monopoly. They point to Google’s Android platform, which supports multiple wallets and charges issuers no fee for contactless transactions, as a contrast. According to the plaintiffs, Apple’s practices have cost issuers as much as $1 billion annually in fees; that figure is their own estimate, not a court finding or an independently verified number. They’re seeking a refund of fees already paid, along with changes to Apple’s wallet practices going forward. Apple opened the iPhone’s NFC chip to third-party developers with iOS 18.1 in October 2024. That change came after the suit was filed, though, and doesn’t resolve the fees plaintiffs are disputing. Apple did not immediately comment on this ruling.
Why it matters: Certifying the class dramatically raises the stakes of this case beyond the three original plaintiffs. Instead of a single dispute, Apple now faces potentially thousands of card issuers pursuing the same claim together, with a shared damages theory the court has allowed to move forward. If the case succeeds on the merits, it could reshape how much issuers pay to support Apple Pay transactions. It could also put pressure on similar fee structures across the mobile wallet industry.
Source: Digital Transactions