With the next-generation iPhone expected to hit the market sometime next month, the rumor mill is in full swing over what the phone will be equipped with.
The latest rumor is that the iPhone 6 will have its own payment system, much like Google Wallet, Isis and Square have for years, and it will employ its own near field communication (NFC) system.
Reports on the topic suggest that Apple will be using NFC to allow users to store secure and private information such as credit card details, and then use the phone's payment platform to make purchases through the phone. NFC establishes radio communication for smartphones by touching them or bringing them withn a few centimeters of each other, and uses data exchange formats based on radio-frequency identification (RFID) standards.
With the company already having hundreds of millions of credit cards on file from iTunes users, making the transition to a mobile wallet system is a natural one, and the evidence points that the iPhone 6 will have those features.
And if images shared by Chinese repair firm GeekBar are truly of the iPhone 6's schematics, then the rumored NFC chip that would bring forward the mobile wallet is likely to be a reality.
"The location on the board is a square patch that does not correspond to any component from the iPhone 5s logic board, indicating that it may indeed be for a new component such as an NFC chip," writes one analyst who looked into the claims that there would be an NFC chip.
The new component could be good news for users who were expecting better things from Apple with the new smartphone. And as the approach of the release of the iPhone 6 nears, a number of companies have urged current iPhone users to look at trading in their devices, Tech Times reports.
The reason would be for them to ensure they receive a solid amount of cash ahead of the new phone's launch. Users can even lock in their phone for a trade to get a certain price, and not be required to send it in until after the iPhone 6 is launched in late September.
The company is expected to launch two separate versions of the iPhone 6, a 4.7-inch and 5.5-inch display, Tech Times reports. But it could run consumers an additional $100, and that has many observers worried that Apple may not be able to get back into the forefront of the smartphone sector if customers are not willing to dole out additional cash for the phone.
