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I'm looking to buy a new phone for several reasons, one of which is that my current phone does not support contactless payments. (It's a 2017 Xiaomi A1, which doesn't have an NFC chip.)
So I was reading about how to setup contactless payments on a new phone (which I've ordered but not yet received), and I've come to understand that any app that supports contactless payments (such as my banking app) will delegate this to the Google Pay app, which in turn uses the NFC chip. Or at least that's my understanding.
I wonder why it's necessary to have the Google Pay app as the "middle man" between the app that actually wants to make the payment, and the NFC chip. I mean, apps that use Bluetooth don't have to go through "Google Bluetooth" (which doesn't exist), nor do apps using the camera have to go through "Google Camera" (which does exist but other camera apps don't depend on it).
I get the feeling that Google "wants" to be in the middle just because it concerns contacless payments, and therefore has its "Google Pay" app hijack the NFC chip. Apparently Google wishes to exert control over (or at least keep track of) what I pay in this way (i.e. contactless)?
But why? I mean, I can make credit or debit card payments and Android doesn't force use of the "Google Pay" app for that. What's so special about contactless payments that Google has chosen to force us to go through its "Google Pay" app?