It has been rumored since last year that Apple could be looking at introducing NFC to the iPhone, but it wasn’t until recently that the folks at 9to5 Mac discovered in a re-examining of previously-obtained hardware code dump for iPhone 5 prototypes that there were references made to NFC-capable hardware, suggesting that it is possible the next-gen iPhone could feature NFC capabilities. While NFC has existed for quite a while now, it is slowly creeping into our mobile devices, allowing for quick data transfers, sharing contacts, making mobile payments, etc.
This combined with the announcement of a new Passbook digital wallet feature in iOS 6 also lent credence to the rumor of an NFC-capable iPhone 5. For those unfamiliar, the Passbook basically stores information on things like your plane’s boarding pass, movie tickets, loyalty cards, coupons, etc. With an NFC iPhone, the Passbook feature would be a quick and easy way for iOS users to use the cards stored within the app without actually needing to call up the individual barcodes and scanning them with a scanner.
Of course this is merely speculation for now and while there is some evidence that suggests NFC, one can never really tell when it comes to Apple’s products, not forgetting that the code dump was for prototype devices which might never see the light of day. Either way with the iPhone 5 pegged for a possible announcement in Fall, we guess we’ve got a couple of months to go to see if the rumors/speculation pans out. Until then, how do you guys feel about an NFC capable iPhone?