NFC adds 'noticeable premium' to smartphone cost

The Galaxy S2 coming with NFC tech soon
The Galaxy S2 coming with NFC tech soon

Samsung has told TechRadar that it thinks NFC is about to take off, despite the extra cost associated with the technology.

Jim Powell, head of product management for Samsung Mobile UK, told us that networks were deeply interested in pushing the technology and had asked Samsung for products to satisfy that:

"We're seeing NFC across an increasing number of devices. The Galaxy S2 and the new Wave 578 won't be the end of our involvement in the technology," said Powell.

Network drive

"In the UK the drive is coming from the networks, as they see a real opportunity with the technology which is why they come to us and ask for a specific product - like the Wave 578.

"NFC is coming in a big way, and the change is going to be enormous over the next 12 months.

"NFC obviously incurs a natural development cost - it will be a noticeable premium on handsets but it won't be huge, and it certainly won't be the reason NFC technology in phones becomes popular or fails."

With some analysts predicting over half of all mobile phones will be NFC-enabled in 2015, this makes a degree of sense, so keep an eye out for an increasing number of people touching stuff with their handsets.

Gareth Beavis
Formerly Global Editor in Chief

Gareth has been part of the consumer technology world in a career spanning three decades. He started life as a staff writer on the fledgling TechRadar, and has grown with the site (primarily as phones, tablets and wearables editor) until becoming Global Editor in Chief in 2018. Gareth has written over 4,000 articles for TechRadar, has contributed expert insight to a number of other publications, chaired panels on zeitgeist technologies, presented at the Gadget Show Live as well as representing the brand on TV and radio for multiple channels including Sky, BBC, ITV and Al-Jazeera. Passionate about fitness, he can bore anyone rigid about stress management, sleep tracking, heart rate variance as well as bemoaning something about the latest iPhone, Galaxy or OLED TV.