Apple Pay finally launches in India after years on the sidelines

techcrunch.com Sep 30, 2026

Apple Pay finally launches in India after years on the sidelines

Curated by Shubham · TechCapsules · Sep 30, 2026

AI-summarised brief · reviewed before publication

Apple began rolling out Apple Pay in India on Tuesday, partnering first with Axis Bank, the nation’s third‑largest private lender. The service initially supports Visa and Mastercard cards issued by Axis, but excludes the domestic RuPay network and is limited to merchants whose terminals have been enabled for Apple Pay. Unlike India’s dominant Unified Payments Interface, which enables instant bank‑to‑bank transfers, Apple Pay relies on card‑based transactions, requiring individual issuers and payment processors to integrate the platform. Apple is seeking a transaction fee of about 20 basis points, roughly half the margin typical in the Indian payments layer, a point of contention that has delayed agreements with major banks such as HDFC, ICICI and SBI Card. The rollout adds a new revenue stream for Apple as it expands its iPhone ecosystem in a market where it now holds 28 % of smartphone value share and where a growing affluent user base could adopt premium card services.

💡 Why It Matters

· Apple Pay gives Apple a direct monetisation channel on its high‑margin iPhone user base in a market otherwise dominated by UPI, forcing banks to reconsider card‑based revenue models.

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More releases, more often will be the Apple way under CEO Ternus

Apple’s new CEO, John Ternus, is reshaping the company’s product cycle to accelerate releases throughout the year, moving beyond the traditional fall iPhone and spring events. Ternus, an engineer, plans a broader launch schedule that will include mid‑year introductions such as AirPods with cameras, Apple Glass, and the 20th‑anniversary iPhone. The shift aims to boost experimentation, diversify revenue, and keep Apple competitive in an AI‑driven market, while cost‑cutting measures are already underway.

💡 By breaking its rigid launch cadence, Apple could shorten the time between innovation and market entry, potentially outpacing rivals that rely on annual showcases. This strategy may also open new revenue streams and keep the brand’s relevance high in a rapidly evolving tech landscape.

9to5mac.com · Sep 30

Bank of America says Meta’s Muse highlights a new risk for Apple’s…

Bank of America analyst Wamsi Mohan warned that Meta’s Muse AI agent could erode Apple’s services revenue by capturing discovery, referral, and transaction flows that currently go through Apple’s ecosystem. Muse, now the top free app on the U.S. App Store with over 3.4 million downloads, can browse the web, book trips, and process payments via Shopify, Expedia, and PayPal. Apple’s shares fell 2.5 % after the note, yet Mohan maintained a “Buy” rating and $370 target, citing Apple’s privacy and installed base as strengths.

💡 The rise of autonomous AI agents threatens to shift control of user intent from platform owners to third‑party services, potentially reshaping the economics of app ecosystems. Apple’s response will determine whether it can retain its dominant role in guiding consumer transactions.

appleinsider.com · Sep 30

Variable aperture iPhone 18 Pro now supported by Final Cut Camera

Final Cut Camera for iOS has been updated to support the iPhone 18 Pro’s variable aperture Fusion Main camera, allowing users to choose apertures from f/1.48 to f/4 and select shutter or aperture priority modes. The release adds Cinematic mode effects for ProRes and Apple Log footage, video scopes (RGB parade, histogram), false‑color and clipping indicators, and a genlock frame‑delay feature. It also enables broadcast‑quality HDMI‑to‑SDI output and requires iOS 26.66 or later. The update is free.

💡 By unlocking the iPhone 18 Pro’s advanced lens control, professional filmmakers can now achieve studio‑level depth of field and exposure precision directly on a mobile device, streamlining multi‑camera productions and reducing the need for external gear.

9to5mac.com · Sep 30

Apple Pay now rolling out to Axis Bank customers in India [U]

Apple has begun rolling out Apple Pay to Axis Bank customers in India, marking the service’s debut in the country after twelve years. The launch follows reports that Apple’s servers now support the payment system, with Axis Bank’s Visa and Mastercard credit cards as the initial partners. India is a key market for Apple, boosting both manufacturing and consumer sales. The move expands Apple’s Services portfolio amid a recent dip in Services revenue and ongoing regulatory scrutiny in India.

💡 By entering India’s mobile‑payment space, Apple taps a rapidly growing digital‑wallet market, potentially offsetting recent revenue declines and reinforcing its foothold in a strategically vital region.

appleinsider.com · Sep 30

Apple Creator Studio lets you change iPhone 18 Pro video focus after…

Apple Creator Studio’s latest update expands its suite of creative and productivity tools across Mac, iPad and iPhone. Pixelmator Pro for iPad now includes Select and Mask controls for precise edge refinement and adds sports, business and podcast artwork templates on both platforms. Final Cut Pro and Motion on Mac can apply Cinematic mode effects to footage shot on the iPhone 18 Pro, with editors able to shift focus points and depth of field directly in the timeline; Compressor adds conversion to the legacy Cinematic format and new HEVC/MPEG‑4 presets for social sharing. iWork’s Pages, Numbers and Freeform gain shared‑file access requests, a reading/writing Screen View, expanded mathematical functions, Dark Mode support and board‑folder organization. Apple Intelligence Writing Tools now rewrite, proofread and summarize handwritten notes, while InvisionOS 27 lets users pull board items into mixed‑reality spaces. The subscription remains $12.99 monthly or $129 annually, with education discounts.

💡 Enabling post‑capture focus changes on iPhone 18 Pro video gives creators cinematic flexibility previously limited to high‑end rigs, reshaping mobile‑first production workflows.

techradar.com · Sep 30

After 10 days with the Apple Watch Series 12, I’m disturbed by…

After ten days of using the Apple Watch Series 12, a Future reviewer notes that the device’s expanded Vitals suite now aggregates heart rate, temperature, blood‑oxygen, respiratory rate and sleep data to generate a “Readiness” score from 1 to 10, displayed in the Fitness app. The author, who averages about 4.75 hours of sleep nightly, reports a personal score of 7 and praises the watch’s ability to flag serious health events, citing past instances of fall detection and cardiac alerts. However, the reviewer also describes the sheer volume of continuous health metrics as overwhelming, especially for users who only need basic activity and sleep tracking. Apple’s recent sensor redesign underpins these new capabilities as the company prepares a revamped Health app with a dedicated Readiness view.

💡 The watch’s readiness metric pushes consumer wearables from passive tracking toward daily health coaching, reshaping how ordinary users monitor and act on their physiological state.