With the widely believed Sept. 12 unveiling and Sept. 21 release date for the next generation Apple iPhone, aka "iPhone 5," approaching fast, the tech world has been flooded with a number of reports over the last few months, concerning the look and new features of the upcoming flagship smartphone from the Cupertino tech giant.
As of now, one of the much talked-about and likely features of iPhone 5 has been the Near Field Communication (NFC) technology that would turn the new iPhone into a wallet. With mobile payment being a hot topic in recent years and Apple revealing the iOS 6 feature "Passbook" during the WWDC 2012, the possibility of including the feature in the upcoming version of the iPhone was very much increased.
On top of this, a report surfaced on Chinese website Apple.pro Monday with claimed photos of the front assembly of the next gen iPhone. The photos showed a new component never seen before in the iPhone, which was speculated to be a near field communication device.
"At first glance the images appear to be similar to those of a semi-assembled front panel published earlier this month, however closer inspection reveals more parts are present, including what could be a near field communication chip located next to the unit's front-facing camera," Apple Insider reported.
The report cited Japanese Apple blog MacOtakara, which said that the square-sized component, covered by EMI shielding, was similar to the dimensions of currently available NFC packages, such as NXP's 5 millimeter-by-5 millimeter solution.
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So, considering all these information and leaks at a time when the next iPhone is just weeks away, it does sound quite reasonable to believe that mobile payment would indeed be possible via NFC in the new iPhone.
Well, folks at AnandTech don't think so. They said in one of their reports Monday that the new iPhone's backside ruled out the possibility of NFC within the device. According to the report, inclusion of NFC is very unlikely because of the mostly metal backplate of the next iPhone.
"Given the primarily metal backside of the new iPhone, it's highly unlikely that NFC is in the cards for this generation. In fact, given the very little space at top and bottom dedicated to those glass RF windows, you can almost entirely rule it out," the report explained.
As CNET has pointed out, NFC antennas are big inductors and need sufficient and dense space, "more than would be possible if it were placed at the tight top or bottom of the phone's assembly."
"With an NFC antenna at the extreme top or bottom, alignment with non-iPhones (for example, payment tokens or reader tags) becomes a much more confusing task, and that doesn't seem like the Apple-like level of polish everyone is waiting for to drive NFC adoption," said the AnandTech report.
As far as the mystery component, seen on the photos, is concerned, AnandTech speculated it to be the touch and display controller meant for the new iPhone's thinner in-cell touchscreen.
The report also challenged the inclusion of "Passbook" in iOS 6 as the most significant piece of evidence for Apple incorporating NFC in the iPhone 5. According to it, "Passbook" in iOS 6 isn't necessarily an indication of NFC as "Apple hasn't disclosed at all whether it would favor NFC or a Bluetooth LE (low-energy) or even QR code based payment token through that gateway."
In addition, AnandTech's take on NFC as a feature of the next iPhone has been backed up by Jim Dalrymple of The Loop with his identical "Yep" response.
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