iPhone 5 Prototypes Reveal NFC Chips and Antenna

[Maura]

9to5 Mac has more information today that it has gleaned from two prototype iPhone 5s that Apple is currently testing. By rummaging around in the hardware code dump of the two prototype models, the website has found information that has led it to believe that the prototypes have Near Field Communication (NFC) controllers that are directly connected to the devices’ power management unit (PMU). 9to5 Mac says that the implications of this are “monstrous”, as following on from the recent announcement of Apple’s PassBook app, Apple looks set to compete with Google Wallet and Microsoft’s new service as well. NFC has been a long time coming to iOS, but now it looks as if Apple has been careful to wait until it has all its ducks in a row to get the service up and running properly, complete with the right phone technology and the right app. 9to5 Mac quotes SITA CTO Jim Peters as saying,

“Opinion is that Apple is going to incorporate NFC into Passbook. Apple just thinks about how they can make it really easy for the user, and then they figure out how to monetize it. They don’t think about how to monetize it and then tell the user what they can have.”

Source: New iPhone prototypes have NFC chips and antenna | 9to5Mac | Apple Intelligence