Apple reportedly in talks to launch a peer-to-peer payment service this year

After years of speculations about Apple launching its own money-transfer services, the Cupertino tech giant could finally be launching  peer-to-peer payment service in Apple Pay this year.

As per a new report from Recode, the company is expected to launch a new Apple Pay feature later this year that would allow iPhone users to send money to other iPhone users.

Citing multiple sources familiar with the talks, the report says the company has recently held discussions with various payments industry partners about introducing its own peer-to-peer payment offering. Well, Apple is also expected to launch a pre-paid Visa card that will allow users to cash out and spend the money in their Apple Pay wallet without sending it to the bank account.

Apple reportedly held talks with banks for such payment service back in 2015 too but nothing materialized. However, if the company successfully launches the feature this year, it will be competing with Paypal-owned Venmo, which already enjoys a big chunk of market share in the mobile peer-to-peer payment sector.