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Late last month, Japanese blog Mac Otakara sparked particular interest in a set of photos of an assembled front panel from the iPhone 5 by claiming that a square feature near the top of the part was likely to be related to near field communications (NFC) capabilities. That interest was quickly tamped down when The Loop reported later in the week that there would be no NFC in the iPhone 5.

Despite the fact that the square feature is slightly off-center with respect to the device, we've assumed that it must be the earpiece speaker, and consultations with experts at RepairLabs have suggested the same.

iphone_5_earpiece_speaker.jpg
Assembled front panel with earpiece bracket removed - bracket and speaker at right
Sonny Dickson has now posted a new set of photos of the assembled front panel that shed some additional light on the situation. A couple of the photos show the square bracket having been removed, and one photo in particular contains a partial view of what does indeed appear to be an earpiece speaker.

iphone_5_earpiece_speaker_removed.jpg
Closeup of front panel with bracket and speaker removed and front camera folded back
Apple is expected to introduce the iPhone 5 at next Wednesday's media event.

Article Link: New Photos Indicate Previously-Thought NFC Chip in iPhone 5 is Earpiece Speaker
 
We will see soon enough.......woohoo

After the events yesterday,I don't see any to pull me away from iPhone. (although the new lumina 920 looked pretty good).
 
With NO NFC Chip, Apple is D O O M E D. !!! :p:p:p

They will sell like 75 units total.

/s
 
Shame they don't have it. It won't deter my decision to buy the iPhone though. I'm not buying it for that functionality. When the tech is matured enough. Well see it happen. Can't wait for Wednesday. Wooooo.
 
Someone's gonna get in trouble

There's enough in that photo to figure out who took it.
First, there's the serial number, second there's her finger (at least I hope it's a she with nails like those.)
 
They are disguising their finger identity with those long nails. After the pictures are taken, they will clip the nails and no one will ever know. :D
 
A few more than 75, but yes.. Apple is getting left in the dust. The phones have been progressively getting more and more underwhelming.

you make it sound like any other phone is really pushing NFC into the mainstream as of now.
 
The Galaxy S3 has NFC... but it's most useful feature... Google Wallet is blocked by most carriers in the US. You have to run a hack to get it working.
 
Not a make or break feature for me at this time.

I've had 2 phones with NFC and there was no real benefit.

I can see the potential for easy pairing and sharing though.
 
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