See that little square metal thing at the top of the image? Doesn’t look like much does it? But that could be one of the most disruptive pieces of technology in the new iPhone 5 — an NFC chip. We’ve been talking NFC on this blog for years now, but this is arguably the first real evidence that’s popped up.
Chinese site Apple.pro posted a few shots of a semi-assembled new iPhone, but it was then that a new component was spotted by Macotakara, who identified it as an NFC chip.
The inclusion of NFC would allow you to simply wave your iPhone at special readers, and pay for items, check in to locations, redeem coupons, and more — all of which would work extremely well with Passbook, which is set to launch with iOS 6.
We’ve been wondering if Apple would jump on board the NFC world for years, maybe the new iPhone will finally be the first step in that direction.
[via AppleInsider]
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