NFC phones: The definitive list

By Mike Clark • • nfcw.com

This is an exhaustive, comprehensive and accurate list of all the handsets that are available around the world. NFC World’s NFC phones list is mirrored all over the web but since it is a living document you should check this page for the latest information.

  1. NFC phones and tablets available now and coming soon
  2. Rumoured devices, with no official confirmation as yet
  3. Museum pieces: NFC phones that are no longer available
  4. Phones that don’t have NFC

Please let us know by email or in the comments below if there’s something we’ve missed or if a handset is in the wrong category

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NFC phones available now and coming soon…

Quick links

Phones and tablets available to purchase today, or already announced and coming soon:

Rumoured NFC devices…

Phones NFC World has heard about, but are not yet announced or confirmed:

No listings at the moment...

Museum pieces

NFC phones that are no longer available, or that were announced but never saw the light of day:

Others

  • Kyocera demonstrated prototype NFC handsets built with technology from Inside Contactless at the CTIA Wireless tradeshow in 2007 and 2008.

Phones that don’t have NFC

The media covering mobile handsets is very competitive so rumours, speculation and unverified assumptions fly around the world’s gadget blogs and forums all day long. Here we address the more persistent NFC misunderstandings…

  • The Oneplus 2 doesn’t have NFC.
  • Motorola Moto G. Motorola has confirmed to NFC World that its affordable Android smartphone, introduced in November 2013, does not have NFC.
  • Apple’s iPhone, up to and including iPhone 5S. Like all of their predecessors, the iPhone 5S and iPhone 5C do not have NFC. The iPhone 6, though, is a different story.
  • Apple’s iPad. No NFC in any model so far.
  • Many Japanese phones boast Osaifu Keitai (“mobile wallet”) support, but this system based on Sony’s Felica technology is not the same as NFC. Japan’s mobile network operators are, however, moving to NFC and phones started to appear on the Japanese market in 2012 that support both NFC and Osaifu Keitai. These phones are included in this list and tagged Osaifu Keitai.
  • ZTE has confirmed to NFC World that the ZTE N880E, an Android 4.1 ‘Jelly Bean’ smartphone, does not have NFC.
  • The budget BlackBerry 9220 does not have NFC.
  • The Kyocera Echo doesn’t have NFC hardware, the company has confirmed to NFC World, despite the technology getting a mention for a while on an official spec page.
  • The Samsung Galaxy S II only comes with NFC in some variants and territories. Most S IIs are not equipped with NFC hardware and availability varies by carrier and country, so buyers are advised to double check with their supplier before purchasing.
  • Android 2.3+ phones. NFC requires special hardware in the handset, so although Android supports NFC from version 2.3 onwards, it does not follow that all phones running this and later versions of the Google operating system have NFC capabilities. Indeed, most don’t.

Can you help?

Are you working on a new NFC handset? Do you know of any devices that should be on this list? Let us know and we’ll update the list.

180 thoughts on “NFC phones: The definitive list”

    1. livehappy – did you ever find an answer source for your question?

      nfcworld – 2 years on, it would be really useful for us if you could provide some kind of running estimation / forecast / graph on this page for market saturation of nfc devices.

      or can anybody point me in the right direction to get this fairly important metric? nov 2014

      Reply

        1. Thanks Loco.. please can I ask, do you have a reliable source for the 30% figure you stated? Or is it just a guess?

          Reply

    1. We don’t know of any resource like that, and my feeling is that it would be uneconomical to produce.

      Certainly nobody else has even a list of NFC phones in the public domain which approaches the comprehensiveness of this one.

      Phone makers don’t generally want to talk about such things and models can vary from territory to territory, so somebody would probably have to procure and tear down most of the phones listed here to do it.

      What would you use the information for? Do you think it has a value?

      Reply

    1. Thanks for the suggestion. It would be nice, but the prices change every day, vary between territories and currencies, change with quantity, whether on contract or Sim-only, and also differ according to type of retail outlet (internet box shifters are generally cheaper than malls and boutiques, for example). Which should we show?

      We do always try to include a guide retail price when phones are first announced, but even then we often don’t hear about pricing or availability at launch time; it only comes later, and country by country, when the phone becomes available at retail.

      And then, even if we put resources into researching and providing this information, you’d still get a more usable idea of today’s price for a particular phone just by searching Amazon 😉

      Reply

  29. What??? Iphone 5S and 5C don’t have NFC????
    I want to use mobile wallet/softcard but can’t. Apple is so behind in technology, was behind on LTE as well, but so ahead when it comes to selling/profit margins. Apple has rightfully pulled a global-marketing-wonder by selling us phones which are behind technological eight ball for years.

    Reply

    5. Apple is not BEHIND they CRIPPLE their products so their own customers cannot use their own private property in ways Apple does not want.

      Nothing personal but one must ask “What does that make a person that chooses to allow this to be done to them?

      Reply

  53. Wat if the phone have no NFC?
    Specialy note3..it can be harm to phone?
    It can be destruck the battery if you take it off
    The NFC in a battery…

    Reply

  61. Hi my s5 mini didn’t have it so purchased an nfc battery but how do I make it work please? The apps still say my phone doesn’t have nfc. Thanks

    Reply

  62. Hi. I have just download the smart diagnosis for LG laundry and said that my smartphone does not support NFC. I have Samsung note. What should I do? Thanks.

    Reply

  64. i heard a rumor that apple blocks NFC since apple pay is out there so you can’t use this in apps? is that correct? i need it for a product.

    Reply

    1. Near Field Communication (NFC) is a technology developed in Austria. It is hardly known, but continuously delivers a “wow”-effect when used. The small NFC-Chip has a large antenna around it, which responds to the emitted energy of the phone that is placed nearby. The NFC then sends the stored information (usually a URL) back to the phone. NFC is integrated into every new smartphone. Unfortunately, the iPhones can only use it for payment, but there are still all the Android and Windows devices remaining.

      + Extremely simple: simply hold the phone over it

      + Highly distributed

      – Users don’t know about it

      Reply

      1. Thanks. yes, not many people in India know about it. Several places like shopping complexes have RFID tags technology to keep track of items and things. NFC tags are not widely used but it seems to me a very useful technology.

        Reply

  79. Question: Can all NFC phones communicate with all NFC tags? Is there somewhere that describes compatibility?

    Reply

  89. I have a 2 month old ZTE 957 I can’t find any info on people and my carrier saying it’s a grand x max 4 idk. Where can I get NFC for this phone because the older phone I had already had NFC it was a Samsung galaxy grand prime and this newer phone does not have NFC and when I tried to dl the same wallet and NFC program in new phone it says it an incompatible version wtf

    Reply

    1. We thought about that but when we add a device the number of everything listed after it will change. I’m not sure I see the obvious benefit of that 🙂 If you’re looking for a unique identifier, you could use the device name.

      Reply

    1. Well, we try to make sure everything is included, but phones don’t just get added here by magic — we need to hear about them, and often for the less-talked-about devices, that’s from good folks like you reporting it to us here.

      That said, I can’t find any evidence on the manufacturer’s website that this device has NFC…

      Reply

        1. We have not heard of anyone using Apple Pay via NFC on any iPad. Additionally, we are not aware of any NFC functionality beyond Apple Pay on any Apple device. Have you done this yourself, or do you just have better sources? 😉

          Reply

    1. Very much so — nearly all of them can read and write NFC tags. The only notable ones that can’t are iPhones, because Apple has not yet provided access to this functionality.

      Reply

      1. Mike, thanks very much. Do you have an opinion regarding which of these devices would be most appropriate/easiest to develop a prototype NFC application on, e.g. generic Android etc? Or, conversely, which devices to avoid?

        Reply

  99. Anyone that have had success with Sony Xperia XY and an implantat of RFID?
    Works with my Sony Xperia Z2 Tablet works without problems.

    Reply

  100. Hey!!
    I have a Samsung Galaxy J7 SM-J700H and when I use Android Pay it says your phone doesn’t support NFC. Anybody that can help me out.
    Thanks.

    Reply

  109. The good news is that the mobile wallet technology is here now. After so many years of tests, it’s live and ready to use. The thing that needs to improve is user education. Plus, the costs have to come down.

    Reply

  110. I have a Android phone by Jitterbug, Model A622GL Version 5.1.1 think it is lollipop. Is there anyway to get NFC on this phone?

    Reply

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