March 27, 2012 02:55 pm EDT

30 million NFC-equipped phones shipped in 2011, could reach 700 million by 2016

Those working on life-changing uses for NFC in phones will now find it even harder to explain why life still hasn't changed. According to Berg Insight, annual global sales of NFC-equipped handsets increased ten-fold to reach 30 million units in 2011 and are forecast to grow to 700 million units by 2016. The analysts attribute this rise to general smartphone adoption rather than to demand for NFC as such, which makes sense from where we're sitting. Aside from a few proximity-based apps, Google Wallet and some other handbag-spurning payment schemes, there's still no overwhelming reason to gear up. GPS and WLAN, on the other hand, remain must-haves, and the PR below looks at their prevalence too.

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30 million NFC-equipped phones shipped in 2011, could reach 700 million by 2016 originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 27 Mar 2012 10:55:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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