Cellular connectivity has become a trendy option for POS terminals and was incorporated in 52 percent of the devices shipped in 2023.

Wireless technology has an important role in facilitating the global adoption of electronic payments, as it enables the rollout of POS terminals to many new market segments and parts of the world where the fixed-line telecommunications infrastructure is less developed. The installed base of cellular POS terminals reached 137.8 million in 2023.

Berg Insight forecasts a CAGR of 8.2 percent between 2023 and 2027, resulting in 188.9 million cellular POS terminals at the end of the forecast period. Berg Insight projects at the same time that the global installed base of NFC-ready POS terminals will grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 7.8 percent from 235.1 million units in 2023 to 317.9 million units in 2027.

As a result, more than 95 percent of the world’s POS terminals will be NFC-ready in 2027, up from 85 percent in 2023. “The Android POS terminal category has become very popular lately. About a third of the POS terminals sold in 2023 were Android POS terminals,” said Johan Fagerberg, Principal Analyst at Berg Insight.

The mPOS terminal market is growing at about the same rate as the traditional POS terminal segment. mPOS is the use of consumer-oriented mobile devices such as tablets and smartphones that function as a point-of-sale terminal to facilitate payment card transactions through a connection to a card-accepting reader. The global installed base of mPOS terminals totaled an estimated 109.9 million units in 2023.

The installed base of NFC-ready mPOS terminals grew to 79.1 million units during the same year as NFC penetration reached 72 percent worldwide. Berg Insight projects that the installed base of NFC-ready mPOS terminals will grow at a CAGR of 12.3 percent between 2023 and 2027 to reach 125.9 million units worldwide.

This corresponds to a penetration rate of 88 percent in 2027. “Today, the mPOS device segment has also started to face competition from SoftPOS solutions. SoftPOS technology allows businesses to accept payments via a standard iOS or Android device,” concluded Mr. Fagerberg.