Retail POS Hardware in 2025: What Changed and Which Vendors to Watch in 2026

Looking back at 2025, it is clear that point of sale (POS) hardware reached a major inflection point. Retailers did not abandon legacy platforms because they stopped working. They moved because store operations, checkout models, and customer expectations fundamentally changed. What was once treated as a lane-level technology decision became an architectural choice tied directly to flexibility, uptime, and long-term scalability.

By the end of the year, the most successful retailers were no longer asking which terminal was best. They were asking which platform could adapt as store formats, labor models, and transaction flows continued to evolve. That shift reshaped how POS hardware was selected, deployed, and supported across the industry.

What Drove POS Hardware Innovation in 2025

POS hardware innovation in 2025 was driven by longer lifecycle expectations, increased modularity, and tighter alignment with modern software and payment ecosystems. Hardware was no longer just about processing transactions. It was expected to support self checkout (SCO) expansion, associate mobility, energy efficiency, and rapid serviceability at enterprise scale.

Vendors responded with modular compute and payment components, Android first operating environments, and form factors that could flex across fixed lanes, kiosks, and handheld use cases. POS was no longer just a product decision. It became an architectural one.

The Big Five Shaping Retail POS Architecture

NCR Voyix
In 2025, NCR reinforced its position not just as an enterprise anchor of POS hardware, but as an innovator in modular self checkout with systems that give retailers flexibility without forcing sweeping capital investment. Its FastLane SelfServ™ Self Checkout family continued to offer configurable options, from full function fixed SCO lanes with advanced cash and coin recyclers and intuitive multi-touch displays to hybrid models that support mixed assisted and self checkout deployments, allowing retailers to tailor hardware, bagging modules, and security peripherals to specific store formats and traffic patterns.

By combining modular self checkout design with emerging AI-assisted checkout options like HALO, NCR gave retailers a spectrum of choices, from configurable, proven SCO lanes to next-generation systems that can enhance speed and shopper satisfaction without requiring full hardware replacements.

Toshiba Global Commerce Solutions
Toshiba’s strength in 2025 was its deep alignment with high throughput retail environments. Grocery and big box retailers continued to rely on Toshiba for fixed POS and self checkout platforms engineered for speed, reliability, and volume. The System 7 self checkout platform demonstrated how modular SCO could scale without forcing unnecessary cost uplift. Retailers could independently select screen sizes, payment modules, cash handling options, and security components based on store format and volume.

Toshiba’s TCx® M1 Mobile POS extends checkout beyond the counter with a compact handheld capable of scanning items and accepting payments via Europay, Mastercard, and Visa (EMV) chip insert, near-field communication (NFC) tap-to-pay, and magnetic swipe on one device, giving associates the flexibility to reduce lines and complete sales wherever the customer is in the store.

Taken together, Toshiba’s fixed, self checkout, and mobile platforms enabled retailers to design checkout around operational reality instead of hardware constraints. The result was an architecture that supports scale and change without forcing premature or unnecessary reinvestment.

Elo, Now Part of Zebra Technologies
Elo stood out in 2025 by redefining what fixed POS could look and feel like. Its strength was not only industrial design, but the ability to combine modern aesthetics with modular performance and integrated payments. For example, retail teams deploying the Elo M60 Pay Mobile POS were able to transform how associates interacted with customers, moving checkout out from behind the counter to the aisle, curbside, or fitting rooms. With enterprise-grade Android, integrated payment acceptance, and robust device management via EloView, the M60 bridged fixed POS and mobile workflows in a single handheld platform.

With platforms such as EloPOS and Elo Pay, retailers could deploy customer facing counters that supported Android ecosystems, flexible compute upgrades, and tightly integrated payment workflows. This allowed stores to modernize the front of house without jumping directly to full self checkout or sacrificing design standards.

Elo’s modular approach made fixed POS feel lighter and more adaptable. Retailers gained the ability to refresh performance, payments, or form factor independently, rather than treating the counter as a static long term investment.

Zebra Technologies
Zebra’s impact on POS innovation in 2025 was defined by mobility rather than counters. Handheld platforms became central to line busting, assisted checkout, inventory visibility, and omnichannel fulfillment.
The acquisition of Elo marked a pivotal shift. It signaled a move toward unifying front of house transactions with back of house operations under a single architectural mindset.

Together, Zebra and Elo positioned POS devices as roles rather than silos. Fixed lanes, kiosks, handhelds, and back-room devices could operate within a shared ecosystem that prioritized flexibility, operational alignment, and lifecycle consistency.

Zebra’s roadmap increasingly reflects hybrid store models where fixed POS, self checkout, and handheld devices operate as a single workflow, allowing associates to move seamlessly between inventory tasks, assisted checkout, and line-busting without switching platforms.

Diebold Nixdorf
Diebold Nixdorf continued to lead in environments where uptime, standardization, and serviceability mattered most. It’s approach in 2025 was not centered on dramatic product launches, but on disciplined engineering focused on modularity and long-term lifecycle management.
Platforms, such as the BEETLE family, allowed retailers to standardize a common hardware backbone for power, connectivity, and peripherals, while still flexing configurations across fixed lanes, kiosks, and self checkout. This enabled retailers to modernize incrementally, convert lanes over time, and add capabilities without absorbing the cost of full platform replacement.

For large enterprises and branch-based retailers, Diebold Nixdorf functioned less as a device supplier and more as an infrastructure partner. The value was architectural consistency at scale, supported by global services and predictable support models.

Honorable Mentions

Not every influential POS platform fit neatly into a big five framework. Some vendors continued to play critical roles by excelling in specific environments or architectural strategies.

Fujitsu remained a quiet force in high volume grocery and self checkout centric environments. Its focus on sensor integration, loss prevention, and operational reliability made it a strong choice where checkout performance directly impacted margin.

HP continued to provide stability for retailers prioritizing global availability, predictable lifecycle management, and alignment with enterprise IT standards. Its value showed up in environments where consistency and cost control outweighed experimentation.

As retailers mix more assisted and self-service experiences, MicroTouch has carved out a role by focusing on where touch actually matters. Its kiosks, all-in-one systems, and interactive platforms support everything from checkout to in-store engagement, with the Mach series offering a flexible foundation that integrates well into existing POS ecosystems. That same touch hardware often shows up outside the lane as well, powering wayfinding and customer-facing interactions across the store.

What Vendors Rarely Say Out Loud

By the end of 2025, POS hardware itself was no longer the hardest problem to solve. Most major vendors could deliver reliable devices with modern payment support.

The real differentiator became architectural flexibility. Retailers increasingly judged platforms on whether they could change how and where transactions occurred without replatforming the store.

Modularity introduced new tradeoffs. While it enabled flexibility, it also increased dependency on proprietary components and certification paths. Android reduced development friction, but shifted greater operational responsibility back to retailers.

Conclusion

By the end of 2025, POS hardware was no longer a standalone purchase. It became infrastructure. The retailers that made the most progress focused less on individual devices and more on building architectures that could flex across fixed lanes, self checkout, kiosks, and mobile workflows without constant reinvestment. As hardware, software, and payments continue to converge, the true differentiator will not be the terminal on the counter. It will be how well the entire POS ecosystem adapts as stores continue to change.