NFC is based on RFID technology but has a much lower transmission range.

These days, only lower-end devices tend to not have NFC. That said, the importance of NFC may vary depending on the region. To that end, some manufacturers, like Xiaomi, omit the coil in certain markets like India due to the technology’s low adoption.

What can you do with NFC on a phone and beyond?

NFC adoption has improved significantly in recent years. Here are a few popular use-cases of the technology:

• Data transfer: With the release of Android Ice Cream Sandwich in 2011, Google introduced Android Beam. The feature allowed you to transfer whatever content or data you had on-screen to other NFC-enabled devices. All you had to do was touch the back of both devices and accept the transfer prompt. Android Beam was only recently shelved in favor of Nearby Share, which uses Bluetooth and Wi-Fi Direct technologies instead.
• Mobile payments: Samsung Pay, Google Pay, and Apple Pay all use your smartphone’s NFC chip for contactless payments. Most debit and credit cards these days already have an NFC tag built-in. The aforementioned apps simply emulate these tags, with permission from the issuing bank or financial institution. Once configured, all you have to do is bring your smartphone or wearable device close to the card reader.
  Apps like Google Pay and Samsung Pay use NFC for contactless payments.
  • Quick pairing: NFC’s convenience extends to devices that don’t have a screen. Many wireless speakers and headphones use it to exchange pairing information with your smartphone. Some cameras also use it to quickly initiate a Wi-Fi Direct connection for easy photo and video transfer.
  • Public transport access: Public transport in many cities, including Hong Kong, Singapore, and London, use NFC-based cards as a form of access control mechanism for public transit. Some systems are even compatible with payment apps like Google Pay so you don’t have to carry the card around.
  • Gaming: Nintendo uses the technology to connect physical toys with video games. An Amiibo is like any other action figure or trading card, except that it also contains an embedded NFC chip. If you bring one of them near a Nintendo Switch or 3DS, it automatically grants you additional characters, levels, or bonus items for a particular game.
  • Home automation: A few smart home platforms, including Home Assistant and Apple’s HomeKit, support NFC as well. Using apps on both Android and iOS, you can configure off-the-shelf NFC tags to control devices or automation.

  NFC vs Bluetooth and UWB: How do they stack up?

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• NFC is far from the only wireless communication protocol. In fact, most smartphones already include similar technologies such as Bluetooth and ultra-wide band (UWB). So why include even more wireless tech?

  One of NFC’s biggest strengths is that it does not require pairing or manual input to establish a connection — it takes us less than a second to tap our phone and for communication to go through. Bluetooth devices, by contrast, have to be paired with each other, which is kind of a cumbersome process.

  NFC is also significantly more energy-efficient than Bluetooth and UWB since the transmission range is extremely short. Most smartphones ship with the NFC radio enabled by default, while turning off Bluetooth is often the first battery-conserving suggestion.

  NFC is less power hungry and faster to use compared to Bluetooth.

  In fact, NFC’s lower power draw also allows certain devices like the iPhone to enable it in emergency scenarios. This means that even if your phone runs out of juice, it will send just enough power to the NFC chip for you to access your campus, hotel room, or car.

  While cars are starting to adopt UWB tech for keyless entry, it’s nowhere near as efficient as NFC. To that end, it’s not surprising that many automakers implement the latter as a fallback access mechanism. UWB is also more expensive and most applications currently served by NFC don’t need its positional precision. The tech is also far more useful for precision finding features like Android’s Find My Device Network.

  Furthermore, with so many NFC use cases already fleshed out, it’s clear that the technology has carved a niche for itself. To that end, adoption is likely only going to improve from here on out.