The iPhone 5S is drawing a lot of attention and it has not even been confirmed by Apple to exist. The rumoured handset has replaced Samsung’s Galaxy S4 as the most talked about smartphone now that Samsung’s product has been confirmed for launch on March 14th. Of course, we know that Apple IS working on a new iPhone product, whether that will be the iPhone 5S or an iPhone 6 is not important; we just want to know how good this will be.
The latest round of reports suggests that the new iPhone from Apple will feature Near Field Communication (NFC) and a fingerprint reader. Of course the addition of NFC would mean that the iPhone could be used for mobile payments, while that fingerprint reader has all kinds of security Benefits. It could be used as a biometric form if identification in conjunction with the NFC to ensure safety of payments, while of course it could also be used simply as a mean to unlock to the home screen.
For those who follow iPhone rumours, the supposed addition of a fingerprint reader is not new. Apple was toying with the idea of using such technology in the iPhone 5 but opted to hold it back, maybe as a new feature for the updated iPhone 5S. As this is a rumour that will not go away, we are willing to file this under, to be included; in other words we are certain the iPhone 5S/6 will have a fingerprint reader.
It seems pretty conclusive that Apple will also include NFC on the new iPhone too, after-all the company purchased Authentec, a company that specialises in NFC security in 2012 for $356 million. The fact that these two brand new features seem entirely likely suggests that Apple will indeed also launch the brand new iOS 7 platform along with any new iPhone.