iPhone 5 may miss out on NFC

A new report from All Things Digital suggests the next version of the iPhone may not come with NFC capability.

According to Bernstein Research analyst Toni Sacconaghi Apple won’t introduce the new technology until it has been adopted by more people.

“NFC-based mobile payments require NFC-capable POS terminals,” Sacconaghi said in a client note. “Only 51,000 retail locations support contactless payments (per Verifone’s 10-K); given that First Data alone deals with 4.1 million merchant locations in the U.S. this suggests current penetration of just over 1% of merchant locations.”

“Clearly, a higher critical mass is needed before mobile payments would take off.”

The comments come as a number of manufacturers, including Nokia and Samsung, have begun to integrate NFC into their hardware.

“We do not expect the iPhone 5 to feature an NFC-based payments solution, and instead expect Apple will evaluate and come to market with partners or a complete solution later, perhaps when NFC infrastructure is more established.”