The tech behind tap-to-pay and other features on your smartphone is about to get a significant range boost, and your smart devices will love it.
The latest release of Near-field communication (NFC), dubbed Release 15, will boost range from 5mm to 2cm. This is a 4x increase in comparison to the previous distance and will support “faster, more reliable contactless interactions across a growing number of use cases,” according to the NFC Forum, a non-profit industry association that aims to advance the use of NFC tech in devices.
This change also means that NFC chips don’t have to be as precisely aligned as they currently are. It will mainly affect people who use NFC for payment or tickets, making it easier to perform those functions. The jump in range also means that users shouldn’t have to move the ticket or wallet app around the terminal. The NFC Forum also notes that it could be used for wireless charging, meaning that it may not be as finicky in the near future.
As Android Authority points out, another highlight with NFC Release 15 is the support for the NFC Digital Product Passport (NDPP) standard. This allows you to use your mobile device as a payment terminal, instead of requiring a separate device. To add more context, the standard includes a data-agnostic framework that allows a single NFC tag embedded in the device to transmit both standard and extended Digital Product Passport (DPP) data using NFC Data Exchange Format (NDEF) records.
This could have huge impacts for small businesses and retailers, allowing them to move away from pricey point-of-sale systems and instead use a smartphone to handle most transactions.
The new release will be available to adopter-level members and the public in the fall. However, it may take time for products that support the new specification to reach the market.
Header image credit: Shutterstock
Source: Android Authority
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