NFC Times Exclusive: With Broadcom scoring an unexpected design win to supply NFC chips to Samsung’s flagship Galaxy S4 earlier this year, and the U.S.-based chip maker gaining an endorsement from Google for its NFC technology, it looked like Broadcom could dethrone rival NXP Technologies as the premier supplier for Android NFC devices.
But that has not happened, and with NFC rollouts expected to gather steam next year, the two largest NFC controller chip makers are expected to square off for major design wins. That includes the NFC supply contract for next year’s Samsung Galaxy S5, which is believed to be in play.
“The GS5 is going to be a tossup; hard to call who’s going to be the winner at this point,” said one expert.
To be sure, NXP’s loss of Samsung’s premier smartphone, the Galaxy S4, inflicted damage on NXP’s NFC business, with sales expected to be flat or fall at least slightly as compared with 2012; though NXP is expected to ship more units than the 125 million NFC controller chips it shipped last year. CEO Richard Clemmer predicted there would not be a “reacceleration,” of design wins until the middle of next year, which is when device makers will get ready for next year’s holiday sales.
Broadcom also won NFC business for LG Electronics’ new flagship smartphone, the G2, released in September, and has begun shipping its first NFC-enabled combo wireless chip this year, though the chip is not believed ready for high-end phones. (See table, Broadcom vs. NXP design wins).
Both chip makers will also have to deal with big new entrants to the NFC market in Qualcomm and MediaTek, which have introduced standalone NFC chips that work with their processors and device reference designs.
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Graphics: Broadcom versus NXP: key design wins for NFC devices for 2013 and whether the devices include secure elements
Among Topics
•Competition between Broadcom and NXP Semiconductors for NFC chip business
•Departure of Mohamed Awad from Broadcom’s NFC program and NFC Forum
•New embedded secure element from NXP, STMicroelectronics and Shanghai Fudan Microelectronics
•Talks between China UnionPay and processor chip makers
•Response by Broadcom to issuers with NFC functionality of Galaxy S4
•Reasons for lack of embedded secure element in Galaxy Note 3 in the U.S. market
•Design wins for Broadcom combo wireless chip incorporating NFC
•Implications for Mifare Classic technology from plans by Fudan Microelectronics to introduce low-end embedded secure chip for China
Among companies and organizations mentioned:
Broadcom
NXP
Samsung Electronics
LG Electronics
Sony
HTC
Xiaomi
STMicroelectronics
Oberthur Technologies
Qualcomm
MediaTek
Shanghai Fudan Microelectronics
Inside Secure
Verizon Wireless
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