Earlier this week, iFixit’s teardown of the iPad Air 2 revealed the unexpected presence of an NXP 65V10 NFC Controller chip. This is the same NFC chip found in the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus, where it is presently used for Apple Pay wireless payments at retail locations. While Apple announced last week that the iPad Air 2 would include Apple Pay support, this was limited to storing credit card information for online transactions, and specifically excluded point-of-sale merchant payments, presumably due to the impracticality of using the much larger full-sized iPad for such things.
Despite speculation that the NFC chip is for an as-yet-unannounced Apple Pay enabled cash register, a search of the FCC’s device certification database suggests that Apple did not seek certification for any NFC functionality in the iPad Air 2, as it would have needed to do if the chip was to be used for wireless communications. Further, no evidence of an NFC antenna was found inside the iPad Air 2.
Apple notably filed a patent earlier this year to enable NFC and non-NFC wireless antennas to be coupled together, suggesting the possibility that existing antennas could do double-duty for NFC purposes. But if this patent was being used in the iPad Air 2, an FCC filing would have been required.
Updated: Through a source, a new report from 9to5Mac confirms that the iPad Air 2’s NFC chip will not be used for wireless transactions, and is instead serving only as a “secure element” to hold credit card information. iFixit notably has also discovered the same NXP chip inside the iPad mini 3, where it serves the same purpose.