The installed base of cellular PoS terminals will reach 229 million in 2028, representing a CAGR of 8.6 per cent, according to Berg Insights.

Cellular connectivity has become a popular option for PoS terminals and was incorporated in 54 per cent of the devices shipped in 2024. The 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 164.8 million in 2024. Berg forecasts a CAGR of 8.6 per cent between 2024 and 2028, resulting in a total of 229.3 million cellular PoS terminals. Berg projects at the same time that the global installed base of NFC-ready PoS terminals will see a CAGR of 7.5 per cent from 284.8 million units in 2024 to 380 million units in 2028.

As a result, more than 96 per cent of the world’s PoS terminals will be NFC-ready in 2028, up from 89 per cent in 2024.

“The Android PoS terminal category has become very popular lately,” said Johan Fagerberg, principal analyst at Berg Insight. “Almost half of the PoS terminals sold in 2024 were Android PoS terminals from vendors such as Sunmi, Tianyu, Pax Technology, Verifone, Castles Technology, Ingenico, Landi and Newland Payment Technology.”

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 totalled an estimated 119 million units in 2024. The installed base of NFC-ready mPoS terminals grew to 90.4 million units during the same year as NFC penetration reached 76 per cent worldwide.

Berg projects that the installed base of NFC-ready mPoS terminals will grow at a CAGR of 11.2 per cent between 2024 and 2028 to reach 138.3 million units worldwide. This corresponds to a penetration rate of 91 per cent in 2028.

“Today, the mPOS device segment has also started to face competition from SoftPoS, which allows businesses to accept payments via a standard iOS or Android device,” said Fagerberg. “The number of smartphones running SoftPoS is still less than ten million.”

Download report brochure at media.berginsight.com/2025/04/12133351/bi-pos8-ps.pdf.