Apple Pay Launches in Iceland

Apple Pay arrived unexpectedly in Iceland today, allowing bank customers to use Apple's mobile payment system for iPhone, iPad, Mac, and Apple Watch wherever they see the contactless logo.

apple pay iceland bank card


International payment solutions company Valitor is said to have played a key role in bringing ‌Apple Pay‌ to the country, with Landsbankinn and Arion banki among the first Icelandic banks to announce support for the digital wallet.

As to which country will get the next ‌Apple Pay‌ rollout, it's currently a toss-up between The Netherlands and Portugal, where regional banks have teased that Apple's contactless payment system is "coming soon."

‌Apple Pay‌ first launched in the United States in October 2014 and is also available in the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, China, Hong Kong, Singapore, Belgium, Switzerland, France, Japan, Spain, Italy, Sweden, Finland, Denmark, Russia, New Zealand, Brazil, Poland, Ireland, Ukraine, and the United Arab Emirates.

Apple CEO Tim Cook said in March that ‌Apple Pay‌ will be available in more than 40 countries and regions by the end of 2019.

Related Roundup: Apple Pay
Tag: Iceland

Popular Stories

M5 MacBook Pro

Apple Announces New 14-Inch MacBook Pro With M5 Chip

Wednesday October 15, 2025 6:07 am PDT by
Apple today updated the 14-inch MacBook Pro base model with its new M5 chip, which is also available in updated iPad Pro and Vision Pro models. In addition, the base 14-inch MacBook Pro can now be configured with up to 4TB of storage on Apple's online store, whereas the previous model maxed out at 2TB. However, the maximum amount of unified RAM available for this model remains 32GB. Like...
Apple iPad Pro hero M5

Apple Debuts New iPad Pro With M5 Chip, Faster Charging, and More

Wednesday October 15, 2025 6:16 am PDT by
Apple today announced the next-generation iPad Pro, featuring the custom-designed M5, C1X, and N1 chips. The M5 chip has up to a 10-core CPU, with four performance cores and six efficiency cores. It features a next-generation GPU with Neural Accelerator in each core, allowing the new iPad Pro to deliver up to 3.5x the AI performance than the previous model, and a third-generation ray-tracing ...
maxresdefault

Here's Everything Apple Announced Today

Wednesday October 15, 2025 3:54 pm PDT by
We didn't get a second fall event this year, but Apple did unveil updated products with a series of press releases that went out today. The M5 chip made an appearance in new MacBook Pro, Vision Pro, and iPad Pro models. Subscribe to the MacRumors YouTube channel for more videos. We've rounded up our coverage and highlighted the main feature changes for each device below. MacBook Pro M5...
HomePod mini and Apple TV

Apple's Next Rumored Products: New HomePod Mini, Apple TV, and More

Thursday October 16, 2025 9:13 am PDT by
Apple on Wednesday updated the 14-inch MacBook Pro, iPad Pro, and Vision Pro with its next-generation M5 chip, but previous rumors have indicated that the company still plans to announce at least a few additional products before the end of the year. The following Apple products have at one point been rumored to be updated in 2025, although it is unclear if the timeframe for any of them has...
Vision Pro M5 Announcement

Apple Updates Vision Pro With M5 Chip, Dual Knit Band, and 120Hz Support

Wednesday October 15, 2025 6:14 am PDT by
Apple today updated the Vision Pro headset with its next-generation M5 chip for faster performance, and a more comfortable Dual Knit Band. The M5 chip has a 10-core CPU, a 10-core GPU with Neural Accelerators, and a 16-core Neural Engine, and we have confirmed the Vision Pro still has 16GB of RAM. With the M5 chip, the Vision Pro offers faster performance and longer battery life compared...
iphone air thickness

Apple Said to Cut iPhone Air Production Amid Underwhelming Sales

Friday October 17, 2025 8:29 am PDT by
Apple plans to cut production of the iPhone Air amid underwhelming sales performance, Japan's Mizuho Securities believes (via The Elec). The Japanese investment banking and securities firm claims that the iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17 Pro Max are seeing higher sales than their predecessors during the same period last year, while the standard iPhone 17 is a major success, performing...
MacBook Pro M5 Screen

New MacBook Pro Does Not Include a Charger in the Box in Europe

Wednesday October 15, 2025 6:59 am PDT by
The new 14-inch MacBook Pro with an M5 chip does not include a charger in the box in European countries, including the U.K., Ireland, Germany, Italy, France, Spain, the Netherlands, Norway, and others, according to Apple's online store. In the U.S. and all other countries outside of Europe, the new MacBook Pro comes with Apple's 70W USB-C Power Adapter, but European customers miss out....
14 inch MacBook Pro Keyboard

New 14-Inch MacBook Pro Has Two Key Upgrades Beyond the M5 Chip

Thursday October 16, 2025 8:31 am PDT by
Apple on Wednesday updated the 14-inch MacBook Pro base model with an M5 chip, and there are two key storage-related upgrades beyond that chip bump. First, Apple says the new 14-inch MacBook Pro offers up to 2× faster SSD performance than the equivalent previous-generation model, so read and write speeds should get a significant boost. Apple says it is using "the latest storage technology," ...
airpods max 2024 colors

AirPods Max 2: Everything We Know So Far

Tuesday October 14, 2025 8:43 am PDT by
Apple's AirPods Max have now been available for almost five years, so what do we know about the second-generation version? According to Apple supply chain analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, the new AirPods Max will be lighter than the current ones, but exactly how much is as yet known. The current AirPods Max weigh 0.85 pounds (386.2 grams), excluding the charging case, making it one of the heavier...
macbook pro blue

Apple's M5 MacBook Pro Imminent: What to Expect

Tuesday October 14, 2025 4:35 pm PDT by
Apple is going to launch a new version of the MacBook Pro as soon as tomorrow, so we thought we'd go over what to expect from Apple's upcoming Mac. M5 Chip The MacBook Pro will be one of the first new devices to use the next-generation M5 chip, which will replace the M4 chip. The M5 is built on TSMC's more advanced 3-nanometer process, and it will bring speed and efficiency improvements. ...

Top Rated Comments

SBlue1 Avatar
84 months ago
Just came here for the dutch comments... :D
Score: 5 Votes (Like | Disagree)
maartenz95 Avatar
84 months ago
I hope this means a launch in the Netherlands is very close..
Score: 4 Votes (Like | Disagree)
simonmet Avatar
84 months ago
I hope this means a launch in the Netherlands is very close..
I hope for your sake you get it soon too. It’s a revelation and I can’t live without it. I use it for 95% of purchases and even changed banks to access it in Australia.

It’s also way more secure than physical bank cards. If you lose a bank card or it gets skimmed/duplicated you have to suspend most access to your account and it takes a week or more to get a replacement. No wonder people want NFC purchasing in phones.

I rarely even bother taking a physical card out anymore unless I know I need cash, but many banks do cardless cash withdrawal at ATMs now too, just not mine yet unfortunately.
Score: 4 Votes (Like | Disagree)
jdmachogg Avatar
84 months ago
You have omitted Czechia, Austria etc… Well, that's Central Europe, who would bother with these countries. :(
++ Germany. It's the second time they have. MacRumors editors aren't the sharpest tools in the box.
Score: 3 Votes (Like | Disagree)
pancakesrockyvalley Avatar
84 months ago
When did they announce it was coming to Iceland?

Asking because a local bank in Portugal announced on April 12th that Apple Pay was coming soon and up until now it’s nowhere to be seen.

How long between the announcement and the actual launch?
It was announced this morning around 8am. It is a total suprise. The infrastructure has been ready for few years, so it was a matter of Apple and the banks to make a deal.
Score: 3 Votes (Like | Disagree)
iBluetooth Avatar
84 months ago
Til hamingju Ísland!
[doublepost=1557348185][/doublepost]The country launch isn't so important as the bank and retailer uptake.
I'm in New Zealand, who've had it for a few years now, and my bank (Kiwi Bank) still don't offer it.
Westpac & ANZ are the only 2 banks here to offer Apple Pay. It was just ANZ until Westpac recently gave in and joined. This is all due to the Australian cartel of banks trying to force Apple to "let them in" on NFC.
Recently a retailer told me that the "Pay Wave" (contactless pay point) system costs more per transaction which is why so many retailers here in NZ don't offer it.
So the real news in any country announcement is how many banks (or what percentage) ?
⅔ of main banks, or 66%. That lone bank was asked when they would support it. They got cought, Oops, so they said they were working on it and gave few weeks until ready. Someone didn’t do his job there!
[doublepost=1557350034][/doublepost]
Another 200,000 adult users, potentially. And that's not counting tourists from nearby continents.

Go, Tim, go!
Actually Apple Pay worked in Iceland for tourists with foreign ApplePay cards for two years until now, that the locals can use it
Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)