It took the past 24 hours for us to go from not knowing at all, to being quietly confident that the iPhone 6 release date will be between the 16th and the 19th of September thanks to some helpful news on the matter from sources. That date is overruling the previous one of the 9th of September that many people thought was the day. Nonetheless, that hasn’t stopped additional parts leaking out and keeping us guessing what will be featured in the hardware. Today it is the logic board for the iPhone 6 that is leaked on the web and it shows a potential landing spot for the NFC chip. If proven true, it will mean that the next flagship for Apple due to launch in under two weeks time will come with NFC according to reports from several large Apple-based publications.

iPhone 6 NFC chip

NFC is a nifty feature found currently on many Android-based smartphones. Using it, people can pay for items from stores that support NFC without needing cash. Furthermore, people can use it for identification, logging onto a PC, accessing memberships, transportation fairs and a place to use the tickets without requiring stubs. It’s not often we see the Cupertino company as they guys that are playing behind the 8-ball, but in this case they are several years in the wake of what the Mountain View guys have implemented. Even though many phones were equipped with NFC, there wasn’t much of a point in using it for it’s main purpose in cashless payments because not many stores supported it. However, now we are seeing a significant increase in the number of checkouts with the option available across the US, so it could be Apple were intentionally waiting to see if it were a successful idea. It’s in out opinion that it definitely is not going anywhere and the fruit company does need to act now so it’s no surprise that the characteristic is coming.

As for the logic board itself, you can see the alleged area for the NFC circled in red. Furthermore, a MacRumors forum member is confident enough to know what the chip looks like thanks to his experience. He knows that the chip does look like a direct match for the place given on the board. From all accounts, it appears a direct hit so long the forum member is correct.

NFC board

We know that Apple rotate the new iPhone design with a new iPhone feature on a yearly basis and this year it’s all about the fresh looks with a larger 4.7-inch display. You should know that we won’t see a fantastic feature until next year, but NFC would be welcomed addition that gives people something to talk about other than just design elements. My work was shared on Reddit yesterday and part of the conversation beneath the post is about the lackluster looks of this years flagships. It appears that not many people think Apple are heading in the right direction so a new feature now might be just what the doctor ordered.

To serve as a refresher, the iPhone 6 is reportedly coming with 960 x 1704 pixels screen resolution, 10 megapixel rear-facing snapper, 2.1 megapixel front-facing shooter, Apple A8 system chip, 2600 MHz processor, 1800 mAh battery capacity and a sapphire display.

Comparatively, along with the near Field Communication system we expect to find WiFi, USB and Bluetooth connectivity options.