With contactless payments becoming more and more mainstream, Samsung is looking to improve contactless transactions on its devices so it is as easy as it is for iPhone users.
According to ETNews, “multiple industry sources” claim that Samsung will add an NFC antenna to the top of the Galaxy S26, which will make payments easier and eliminate any awkward wrist angles that were required for the payment to go through.
As Android Police points out, Samsung’s flagship S25 devices house the coil just to the right of the camera module, which makes contactless payments more difficult, as users may not realize that it isn’t at the top of the device like some other major smartphone manufacturers. The S24 Ultra saw the main NFC reader sit considerably higher than its successor, while the S23 had it way worse, with the reader positioned right in the middle of the rear, close to the wireless charging pad.
Samsung will reportedly not change the location of the main NFC reader, instead opting for the previously mentioned antenna at the top of the device. Android Police also points out that Many Android devices currently use a dual-NFC antenna design to work around this exact problem.
NFC has also tried to implement its own solutions to try and combat the problem with inconsistent NFC placements, unveiling Release 15, which improved the range from 5mm to 2cm.
Why did it take so long for Samsung to implement this change? According to the report, Apple holds several patents related to contactless payments and NFC positioning, forcing Samsung to spend a “considerable amount of time” trying to figure out workarounds.
No designs are official yet, so Samsung may decide against putting the NFC antenna in the S26 line.
Source: Android Police
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