Apple seems primed to establish mobile payments as a mainstay in the mainstream, after leaked images of an iPhone 6's logic board reveal the inclusion of near field communication (NFC) in the smartphone's design.
Wireless payment systems have been all but a novelty up to this point, as it's often just as convenient to retrieve and swipe a piece of plastic as it is to retrieve mobile apps and wave around a mobile device. But as a tech firm praised for the accuracy of the bets its wages on new tech, Apple's use of NFC and delivery of a mobile payments solution may deliver a system that sticks.
Recently published photos of what's said to be the iPhone 6's logic board showed the presence of an NFC chip. The photos were then followed by a video of what's said to be a short demo of an actual iPhone 6 -- the video has been linked below the story.
The iPhone 6's NFC chip is said by anonymous insiders to be one of the smartphone's defining features, stressing how much Apple is behind the tech. The insiders also said that the iWatch would feature an NFC chip so that it can use the same mobile payments system Apple has been designing.
In January, Apple filed the latest in a long line of patents seeking to develop on mobile payments platform that stores data securely in a dedicated area of mobile hardware. Around that time, Apple CEO Tim Cook reiterated his company's interest in mobile payments.
"The mobile payments area in general is one that we've been intrigued with and that was one of the thoughts behind the Touch ID. But we're not limiting ourselves just to that," said Cook. "I don't have anything specific to announce today, but you can tell by looking at the demographics of our customers, and the amount of commerce that goes through iOS devices versus the competition, that it's a big opportunity on the platform."
Along with the NFC chip, the image of the iPhone 6's logic board corroborated rumors that the smartphone would make its logical progression to the A8 processor from the iPhone 5's A7. The iPhone 6's A8 processors were said to be clocked at 2.0 GHz per core, though the number of threads or physicals cores wasn't revealed in the statement by a source speaking on the device's specs and display, Tech Times reports.
Many expect the rumor mill churning out speculation on the iPhone 6 to grind to a halt on Sept. 9. Apple has issued invites to a "huge press event" in the tech company's hometown of Cuptertino, Calif., during which Apple is widely expected to debut its latest smartphone and possibly the iWatch.
Here's Feld & Volks purported hands-on time with the iPhone 6:
