You'd think that smartphones would have made traditional credit cards obsolete by now, but since they haven't (in the US, at least), Mophie's iPhone credit card reader may be the next best thing.

Its full details will be shared with us next week at CES, but the system will consist of a hardware scanner and a corresponding app. So while the iPhone's API restrictions will prevent you from scanning your card directly into Safari for your next web purchase, there are surely some remote pay possibilities in the works similar to what we've seen from Square—not to mention, it'll pave the way for an entire generation of even lazier credit card theft. [Pocket-Lint via SlashGear]