Apple iPhone 5 Display To Integrate RFID Reader?

Apple may be looking to build a RFID reader in the screen of your next iPhone 5 smartphone in a bid to capture a large chunk of the growing contactless technology industry.

Patently Apple unearthed a patent that specifically addresses the issue of incorporating RFID circuitry either the reader or the "remote unit circuitry" or both in the display and notes that work on the technology may have started soon after the launch of the first iPhone back in 2007.

Shoving the RFID circuity in the display itself means that the RFID antenna is bigger, saves space on the circuit board, allows for even thinner hardware with tighter integration meaning lesser costs to Apple.

RFID is already popular in the UK where contactless technology is used to unlock office doors, pay for your lunch or travel on the train.

The fact that the GSM Association is supporting a new technology, called Single Wire Protocol, which links the sensor to the SIM card of the handset opens a raft of new opportunity.

Whether Apple adopts SWP or tries to impose its own ecosystem remains to be seen.