Apple will let shoppers spend money at stores by holding their iPhones close together

• Apple said it's launching a new payment feature called Tap to Pay later this year.
• Tap to Pay allows customers to pay businesses by holding their iPhones close together.

Apple announced on Tuesday that it's going to unveil a feature that will allow customers to pay merchants by holding their iPhones close together.

Tap to Pay, which is expected to come out later this year, will let businesses process transactions in stores by tapping their iPhone on the customer's iPhone or Apple Watch, the tech giant said in a statement.

Apple said the feature will accept contactless credit and debit cards, as well as Apple Pay, Visa, American Express, Mastercard, and Discover. It added that no extra hardware or payment terminal would be needed.

Apple said Stripe would be the first payment platform to offer Tap to Pay to their customers in spring, with more platforms being added later in the year.

Customers' payment data will be protected via Tap to Pay in the same way that it secures transaction data through Apple Pay. The company added that all payments through Tap to Pay would be encrypted so Apple doesn't know who is buying what.

"Tap to Pay on iPhone will provide businesses with a secure, private, and easy way to accept contactless payments and unlock new checkout experiences using the power, security, and convenience of iPhone," Jennifer Bailey, Apple's vice president of Apple Pay and Apple Wallet, said in the statement.

Tap to Pay will only be available in the US when it's launched, Apple said.