NFC-Ready POS Terminals to Hit 8 in 10 Globally by 2022

An analysis from Swedish market research firm Berg Insight has predicted NFC-enabled point-of-sale (POS) device installations will grow annually at a compound rate of 15.6 percent from 2017, resulting in an uptick which will make 78 percent of the world’s POS terminals ready for contactless payments by 2022.

Total installations will total 112.3 million NFC-ready units globally in 2022, the analysis found, up from 54.5 million units in 2017. Currently, 3 in 5 POS terminals shipped in 2017 are NFC-ready globally; about 50 percent of POS terminals are ready to accept NFC contactless payments, the report said.

The research report also noted strong momentum for NFC-enabled terminals in 2017. Annual shipments reached an estimated 24.7 million units worldwide. Shipments were the highest in Europe and North America, where 90 percent and 88 percent of shipments were contactless ready respectively, the report found.

Mobile POS devices (mPOS), or terminals based on connected mobile devices like tablets and smartphones, are also driving contactless payments forward. The report found that NFC-ready mPOS shipments reached 9.7 million units in 2017, and Berg forecasts that global shipments will grow annually at 28.9 percent to reach 34.5 million units by 2022.