The UK’s Competition and Markets Authority opened a call for evidence on developer access to NFC on the iPhone on June 30, 2026. As of Sunday, September 13, 2026, that is 75 days with no closing date published on the regulator’s own case page.
It is a narrow question inside a much larger file. The CMA designated Apple as having Strategic Market Status for its mobile platform in October 2025, and the NFC question is one of several threads still open under that designation, running independently of Apple’s iPhone 18 Pro launch, its iPhone Duo, and the iOS 27 update covered in Apple’s September announcements.
Key facts
| Item | Detail |
|---|---|
| Regulator | UK Competition and Markets Authority |
| Case | Apple’s mobile platform, Strategic Market Status |
| NFC call for evidence opened | June 30, 2026 |
| Days open, as of today | 75 |
| Closing date | Not published |
| Most recent case page update | August 14, 2026 |
What the CMA is actually asking
The call for evidence asks about developer access to the near-field communication controller in the iPhone, the hardware behind tap-to-pay and other contactless features. On the iPhone 18 Pro and every recent iPhone, that same controller already supports NFC in reader mode for Apple’s own uses; the open question is what access, if any, Apple should be required to give to other developers’ apps for their own contactless features. It opened the same day the CMA launched a separate consultation on proposed Steering Conduct Requirements for Apple and Google. The two are related but distinct. One asks a question and gathers views; the other proposes a specific rule and asks for reactions to it. The CMA’s own case page treats them as parallel work streams under the same Strategic Market Status designation, not as a single combined proceeding with one shared deadline.
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Where it sits inside Apple’s wider UK designation
| Date | CMA case event |
|---|---|
| Jan 23, 2025 | Strategic Market Status investigation launched |
| Oct 22, 2025 | Final SMS designation issued |
| Apr 1, 2026 | Final commitments take effect; separate call for evidence on app store rules opens |
| Jun 30, 2026 | Steering Conduct Requirements consultation opens; NFC call for evidence opens |
| Aug 14, 2026 | Responses to the steering conduct consultation published |
What has already been answered, and what has not
The steering conduct consultation that opened alongside the NFC question already has a public record. Responses were published August 14, 2026, the most recent entry on the CMA’s case page. The NFC call for evidence has no equivalent entry. Its case page lists no closing date, no published responses, and no indication of when the CMA might move from gathering evidence to proposing anything specific, the same open status it has held since June. That silence is itself informative: the CMA published dated milestones for every other step in this case, from the original investigation to the steering conduct responses, so the absence of one here is not a gap in this article’s research, it is a gap on the regulator’s own page.
Why the question outlasted the summer
Seventy-five days is longer than the CMA took to move from its original investigation announcement to a proposed decision back in 2025, a comparison that says more about how this particular question has been handled than about the CMA’s pace generally. A call for evidence, unlike a consultation on a specific proposed rule, has no rule requiring the regulator to set a response window in advance, which is part of why NFC access has stayed open while the steering conduct question, opened the same day, already produced published responses within seven weeks.
What has not been confirmed
- Any closing date for the NFC call for evidence.
- Whether the CMA intends to fold NFC access into the Steering Conduct Requirements or address it separately.
- Any Apple statement on the question, beyond the commitments it already made under the SMS designation.
Today is Sunday, September 13, 2026. The CMA’s own case page is the place to check for a closing date once one is set. Until then, 75 days is the number that keeps growing.
