Apple's 'iPhone 6' to supposedly incorporate NFC, new secure enclave for mobile payments
Building on rumors that Apple will release an iOS-based mobile payments solution with its next-generation "iPhone 6," the well-connected John Gruber claims the new handset will feature NFC hardware and a new secure enclave to store credit card information.
Purported 'iPhone 6' and iPhone 5s logic boards compared. | Source: Nowhereelse.fr
In a missive posted to his Daring Fireball blog, Gruber says Apple's upcoming iPhone lineup will not only sport near-field communication (NFC) hardware for facilitating on-the-go payments, but will boast a specially-designed security "enclave" for storing payment credentials.
Supposedly backing up these rumors are purported "iPhone 6" schematics and component "leaks" that suggest support for an NFC-compliant chip.
NFC has for years been rumored for inclusion in Apple's iPhone, but the technology has yet to show up in a production model. With the iPhone 5, for example, industry watchers jumped on a batch of photos revealing an unknown component attached to the phone's logic board, claiming it was clear evidence of NFC support. The part turned out to be a high-resolution ear speaker.
Apple is experimenting with NFC, as can be seen in a multitude of patents, but as SVP of Worldwide Marketing Phil Schiller said in a 2012 interview, the company is more concerned about user experience than shoehorning in the latest tech just because it can. At the time, Schiller said Passbook covered the bases for consumers. It should be noted, however, that the payments landscape is quickly changing.
As for the secure enclave, Apple currently employs a similar component in the iPhone 5s to store data referenced by the Touch ID fingerprint recognition system. According to a security white paper published in February, the enclave is built into Apple's A7 SoC and comes complete with its own secure boot sequence and software update mechanism. Apple says the component is responsible for "all cryptographic operations for Data Protection key management and maintains the integrity of Data Protection even if the kernel has been compromised."
For clarification, Gruber's comments about a "new joke" and "sense of humor" are allusions to a report from Re/code's John Paczkowski, who earlier Thursday cited sources as saying Apple would unveil its long-awaited "iWatch" wearable at its upcoming Sept. 9 special event.
In August, Gruber made a casual remark about Apple's "wrist wearable thing," saying it would launch in September, only to later claim the comment was made in jest. Paczkowski referenced the "joke" in his most recent report.
Purported 'iPhone 6' and iPhone 5s logic boards compared. | Source: Nowhereelse.frIn a missive posted to his Daring Fireball blog, Gruber says Apple's upcoming iPhone lineup will not only sport near-field communication (NFC) hardware for facilitating on-the-go payments, but will boast a specially-designed security "enclave" for storing payment credentials.
The post comes just hours after Wired issued a report framing NFC as "one of the hallmark features" of Apple's next iPhone.I've been working on a new joke -- about NFC and a new secure enclave where you can store your credit cards, so you can pay for things at brick and mortar retail stores just by taking out your iPhone, but only if it's one of the new iPhones -- but no one seems to get my sense of humor.
Supposedly backing up these rumors are purported "iPhone 6" schematics and component "leaks" that suggest support for an NFC-compliant chip.
NFC has for years been rumored for inclusion in Apple's iPhone, but the technology has yet to show up in a production model. With the iPhone 5, for example, industry watchers jumped on a batch of photos revealing an unknown component attached to the phone's logic board, claiming it was clear evidence of NFC support. The part turned out to be a high-resolution ear speaker.
Apple is experimenting with NFC, as can be seen in a multitude of patents, but as SVP of Worldwide Marketing Phil Schiller said in a 2012 interview, the company is more concerned about user experience than shoehorning in the latest tech just because it can. At the time, Schiller said Passbook covered the bases for consumers. It should be noted, however, that the payments landscape is quickly changing.
As for the secure enclave, Apple currently employs a similar component in the iPhone 5s to store data referenced by the Touch ID fingerprint recognition system. According to a security white paper published in February, the enclave is built into Apple's A7 SoC and comes complete with its own secure boot sequence and software update mechanism. Apple says the component is responsible for "all cryptographic operations for Data Protection key management and maintains the integrity of Data Protection even if the kernel has been compromised."
For clarification, Gruber's comments about a "new joke" and "sense of humor" are allusions to a report from Re/code's John Paczkowski, who earlier Thursday cited sources as saying Apple would unveil its long-awaited "iWatch" wearable at its upcoming Sept. 9 special event.
In August, Gruber made a casual remark about Apple's "wrist wearable thing," saying it would launch in September, only to later claim the comment was made in jest. Paczkowski referenced the "joke" in his most recent report.
Comments
Besides - if Apple wants to get into the mobile payment arena, why would it exclude the 500 million iOS devices already out there and only allow mobile payments via the new devices. Again, it makes no sense.
Even if the rumor is from Gruber.
If you read it in context on his site it is clear he is not joking. Even clearer if you have followed his take on these rumors for a while...
WTF. John Gruber is now "well-connected" too?
That gets him into the club with Ming.
Because any payment system that relies on your phones Internet connection is doomed to fail. A phone with a secure enclave can be used just like a chipped card.
This is where the Apple logo cutout may come into play. I don't have a clue if they will have NFC or not, but they could put the antenea under the Apple logo. It gives a nice target for aligning to a reader. We will see soon enough.
Sigh... People.
Because any payment system that relies on your phones Internet connection is doomed to fail. A phone with a secure enclave can be used just like a chipped card.
Hm, I've been paying my iTunes and Starbucks purchases this way for a few years now - no doom yet! Doing most of my banking via the smartphone just as well - no trouble either! Just telling me that such a thing is doomed to fail doesn't convince me.
But your second point may be a good one: Apple had been rumored to be in negotiations with credit card companies - perhaps with NFC plus the enclave, they're going to emulate a chipped card.....but where would iPhone users make use of it? Chipped cards are common in Europe but not in the U.S. And even in Europe, how would an iPhone emulate a chipped card? I don't think the sales terminals there use NFC to communicate with the card. It sounds a bit nebulous to me.
Between now and Sept 9, there will be 17 more articles with headlines just like this one.
Because any payment system that relies on your phones Internet connection is doomed to fail. A phone with a secure enclave can be used just like a chipped card.
And a phone that acts just like a chip card is doomed to fail. If the only thing my phone can do is act like a chip card, then what incentive is there for me to use it instead of my chip cards I already have?
Your phones data connection can be just as secure as any other method of transmission. Security lies in the type of data you send, not the medium it's travelling over. CC numbers and personal information can be replaced by tokens and ID numbers that are useless to thieves snooping the airwaves.
I'm curious to see where the NFC receiver will be on the iphone 6. the whole thing is in metal...there are very few potential places left?
This is where the Apple logo cutout may come into play. I don't have a clue if they will have NFC or not, but they could put the antenea under the Apple logo. It gives a nice target for aligning to a reader. We will see soon enough.
Every leak we've seen point to the logo being made of metal which would block radio frequencies. And even if it was made of a radio-transparent material, traditional NFC inductors require a larger surface than the Apple logo on the iPhone 6 and can't be made smaller, due to the fundamental nature of wavelengths.
But Apple recently applied for a patent called "Shared Antenna Structures for Near-Field Communications and Non-Near-Field Communications Circuitry" which uses the top and bottom cell antennas to create an NFC inductor. To me it's quite obvious that this is what they'll do.
I wish Apple news sites would do a little more investigative journalism and make an article out of this. (Appleinsider, here's your chance...)
This is where the Apple logo cutout may come into play. I don't have a clue if they will have NFC or not, but they could put the antenea under the Apple logo. It gives a nice target for aligning to a reader. We will see soon enough.
Could it be our eyes deceive us and the case is actually molded plastic? Hmm
C'mon people. The HTC is metal with? NFC
Galaxy S5 is plastic with metal inside and? NFC
Could it be our eyes deceive us and the case is actually molded plastic? Hmm
C'mon people. The HTC is metal with? NFC
Galaxy S5 is plastic with metal inside and? NFC
The HTC One NFC inductor is apparently around the camera hole, so I guess what I was saying about the Apple logo being too small may not be totally right. But on the other hand, it seems that the HTC One NFC sensor/inductor is notoriously bad, probably because of this.
I don't want that. It's not like you put your thumb on the screen for Touch ID to authorize a payment and it gets sent. You'd have to move your wrist over the NFC sensor which, if flat on checkout table probably means flipping your wrist over to make the connection. Maybe the magnetic loop would work around the wrist but that's still seems awkward to me.
Attention-grabbing dudes like John Gruber are really sad pricks. They know next-to-nothing but are always opening their big yaps and standing on their little soapbox trying to draw a crowd. If he's got anything to say about mobile payments, he should wait until Apple introduces it on the iPhone. The rumor-mongers are rather pathetic.
WTF. John Gruber is now "well-connected" too?
That gets him into the club with Ming.
Are you being sarcastic? None of Gruber's little birdies have ever been wrong.