One of the things which got us most excited about the iPhone 6 was Apple Pay. Okay, it was the most exciting thing. NFC is great. NFC is the future. NFC will be… not technically available on the iPhone 6.
Not in the truest sense, at least. As it turns out, the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus’ NFC capability will be exclusively available to Apple Pay. That means no wireless device tethering, no tags, no access for developers to play around with it and make a load of cool things. Just Apple Pay.
Of course contactless payment is undeniably the main use for NFC, so at least that’s still intact – it’s just a shame that its vast potential is being capped like this.
If there’s anything to give us hope, though, it’s the video that Apple showed at the official unveiling. Within it the iPhone’s NFC capability is demonstrated by showing someone unlocking a hotel room door. Clearly this is something in Apple’s plans, so perhaps the NFC functionality will be unlocked later on in the iPhone 6’s lifespan. Perhaps it may even be open to select special partners at this stage.
NFC has been a rather large factor in the perceived hardware disparity between iOS and Android devices for years now. Let’s hope that Apple hasn’t tripped at the final hurdle.
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