I suspect it's the same as well. I think CurrentC wanted to stop Apple Pay and the rest were just collateral damage.

Which is stupid. Apple Pay is the most available way to pay for something that is as secure as chip & pin in the USA.

I have a feeling the MCX participants and card issuers are going to come to an impasse over their respective agreements. All the issuers have to do is require that terminals capable of NFC (for the purpose of accepting PayPass/PayWave) not have the functionality disabled. This will put the merchants in a bind and force them either to replace the terminals altogether, or re-enable NFC.

So what is the benefit of having it on a breakable heavy device with limited battery life?

It doesnt sound very enticing to me that I can't pay that taxi when it's raining because my battery ran out.

Security and convenience; it's been covered ad nauseam elsewhere. And you can always use the plastic as a backup if you like.