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iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus NFC Chips Only for Use With Apple Pay

iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus NFC Chips Only for Use With Apple Pay

By Ketan Pratap | Updated: 16 September 2014 19:36 IST

Apple in an email statement has confirmed that the NFC chip on the new iPhone devices can only be used with Apple Pay.

An Apple Spokeswoman (unnamed) in an email to Cult of Mac said, "NFC chip on the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus is only for use with Apple Pay."

According to the report, The Cupertino-based giant declined to comment on the company's "future plans for the NFC chip."

(Also see: Apple a Decade Behind Japan Mobile Payment Curve)

The news might come as a shock to many who might have been waiting for the NFC connectivity feature on the iPhone models to use it in different ways (pair with speakers etc). However, Apple is famous for limiting a new feature that the company introduces in its devices. The Bluetooth experience on iOS, for example, is still very limited compared to that on other platforms.

It's also worth noting that the Apple Touch ID, which debuted on the iPhone 5s, was not accessible to any third-party apps. Apple announced it will open Touch ID authentication for third-party apps only at this year's WWDC event.

(Also see: Will the Apple Pay Mobile Wallet Kill the Plastic Credit Card?)

Back on the NFC connectivity, PC Advisor quotes RapidNFC, an NFC tag provider as saying, "At the moment, there isn't any open access to the NFC controller. There are currently no NFC APIs in the iOS 8 GM SDK - which would indicate that the NFC capability will be restricted to Apple Pay at launch."

Notably, Apple had previewed extended capabilities of its NFC on the new iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus beyond Apple Pay, giving examples of unlocking the hotel room, among others.

"This is a classic use case [the hotel example] for NFC and gives some indication that the NFC controller will be open to developers at some point. Given the 'newness' of contactless payments for the general US consumer and the recent security breaches it's not surprising Apple wants to keep this closed for a while," told Craig Tadlock, CEO and founder of GoToTags to PC Advisor.

(Also see: Apple Pay Looks to Accelerate Mobile Payments Push)

Apple launched two larger iPhones - iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus - alongside a smartwatch called Apple Watch and company's new mobile payments service Apple Pay in Cupertino, California last week.

Apple iPhone 6

REVIEW
KEY SPECS
NEWS
Variants

Design
Display
Software
Performance
Battery Life
Camera
Value for Money

Good
Thin, light, easy to handle
Excellent camera
Superb performance
Reasonably good battery life

Bad
Limited storage

Read detailed Apple iPhone 6 review

Display 4.70-inch

Processor Apple A8

Front Camera 1.2-megapixel

Rear Camera 8-megapixel

RAM 1GB

Storage 16GB

Battery Capacity 1810mAh

OS iOS 8.0

Resolution 750x1334 pixels

More Apple mobiles Apple mobiles price in India

Choose a variant

Apple iPhone 6 Plus

REVIEW
KEY SPECS
NEWS
Variants

Design
Display
Software
Performance
Battery Life
Camera
Value for Money

Good
Fantastic performance
Very good battery life
Excellent camera

Bad
Large and awkward to use
Lacks software optimisations

Read detailed Apple iPhone 6 Plus review

Display 5.50-inch

Processor Apple A8

Front Camera 1.2-megapixel

Rear Camera 8-megapixel

RAM 1GB

Storage 16GB

Battery Capacity 2915mAh

OS iOS 8.0

Resolution 1080x1920 pixels

More Apple mobiles Apple mobiles price in India

Choose a variant

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Further reading: Apple Pay, Apple, iPhone, NFC, Mobile Payments, Mobiles, iPhone 6 Plus, iPhone 6

Ketan Pratap

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Ketan Pratap is the editor at Gadgets 360 - with over 12 years of experience covering the technology domain. With a breadth and depth of knowledge in the field, he's done extensive work across news, features, reviews, and opinion pieces. But what's truly inspiring about Ketan is how he spends his free time. He's often found gazing at snow-capped mountains from over 20,000 feet while sitting on the hood of his car, taking in the breathtaking beauty of nature. His passion for the great ...More