The lawsuit, filed on Thursday, alleges that the collusion between these industry giants has resulted in merchants paying artificially higher fees for credit and debit transactions.

According to the lawsuit, Apple has entered into unlawful agreements with Visa and Mastercard, essentially refraining from competing with the credit card companies. A significant part of these agreements involves Visa and Mastercard paying Apple a portion of transaction fees for payments made using Apple Pay on their networks.

Critics argue that these arrangements effectively provide Apple with a sizable ongoing cash bribe from Visa and Mastercard. By preventing Apple from creating its own independent payment network, the alleged collusion hinders competition and potentially leads to higher credit and debit card processing fees for merchants.

The lawsuit also highlights Apple's strict control over the iPhone's NFC chip for contactless payment transactions. This exclusivity means that Apple Pay is the only mobile wallet platform available for iPhone users.

To solidify their partnership, Apple, Visa, and Mastercard reportedly reached a mutual agreement not to use the iPhone to establish Apple's own point-of-sale transaction payment network. Instead, they opted to process Apple Pay transactions on the existing POS Transaction Payment networks maintained by Visa and Mastercard. As part of the agreement, Apple committed to blocking third-party access to certain hardware, such as the iPhone's "Secure Element," which could have been utilized by competitors to establish mobile-based payment solutions.

In return, Apple was promised a share of the fees generated through the POS Transaction Payment systems operated by Visa and Mastercard.

In response to ongoing antitrust investigations in the European Union, Apple recently made headlines for offering to open up its Apple Pay NFC system on the iPhone to other companies. While the outcome of this offer remains uncertain, it signals Apple's willingness to address concerns over anti-competitive practices. Whether similar changes will be implemented in the United States remains to be seen.

As this antitrust class action lawsuit gains momentum, industry experts and regulators will be closely monitoring the outcome, as it may potentially impact the future of competition and pricing within the point-of-sale payment card services sector.