The company wants to take over processing of payments for Apple's credit card, and has reportedly offered $100 million to replace Mastercard.

But that’s not all that Apple brings to the table: Challenger banks — newer, tech-driven services that aren’t weighed down by tradition — have proliferated and improved since 2008 when bankers seemingly siphoned all the cash from the global economy.

Changing networks won't impact cardholders much, but it could be the first step toward improving card features.