“Once Tap to Pay on iPhone becomes available, merchants will be able to unlock contactless payment acceptance through a supporting iOS app on an iPhone XS or later device.”
Android phones have had the NFC hardware to do this for years. Apple kept its NFC chip locked down, and now it sells access back as a feature. Stripe goes first. Merchants skip a card reader, and Apple gets a new spot in the payment chain without lifting the lock for anyone else.