After years of pressure from regulators, including the European Union, Apple (AAPL. O) announced on Wednesday that it would begin allowing third parties to use iPhone payment chips for transactions, a move that would put banks and other services in competition with the Apple Pay platform. Apple said it would allow developers to use NFC-powered payment chips starting with iOS 18.1, and users could also set third-party payment apps as the default system, replacing Apple Pay. However, under the new payment method, Apple will still require developers to pay "related fees" for using NFC chips and enter into "commercial agreements", according to Wednesday's statement.