Samsung enters NFC controller market

Korean electronics giant Samsung has entered the NFC controller market with a chip the company says offers a comparative 20% power saving.

Samsung's new NFC controller
CHIP: Samsung's new NFC controller

Samsung Electronics has moved into the fast developing NFC controller market with the announcement of a new NFC chip with embedded flash memory.

The chip features a 20% saving in power consumption, says Samsung, and the ability to allow mobile payments transactions to be conducted even when the host mobile phone’s battery is flat.

“NFC is recognized throughout the industry as an easy and effective way to transmit encrypted information between mobile devices or between mobile devices and other stationary NFC-enabled devices such as kiosks,” says Samsung’s Tae-Hoon Kim. “As momentum builds for adoption of NFC technology in next-generation/upcoming smart phones, we look forward to securing a competitive footing in NFC-based solutions with our new NFC technology, offering powerful mobile characteristics such as low power design and advanced RF sensitivity.”

The company has also developed its own NFC protocol stack for use with the new controller and is offering phone manufacturers both antenna design and tuning services.

The chip is scheduled for mass production in the first quarter of 2011 and will be on show at Cartes in Paris next week.

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