If you were hoping to future proof your phone purchase by grabbing an NFC-enables Samsung Galaxy S II, you’re officially out of luck. Samsung has just confirmed that the version of the phone launching in Australia is the non-NFC handset, making the dream of mobile phone payments at Woolworths a slightly more distant utopia.
Samsung sent us this statement this morning:
Samsung can confirm that the GALAXY S II will not ship with a NFC chip in Australia. The company is closely monitoring local application and demand for NFC technology and is ready to release NFC-enabled handsets into the Australian market at the appropriate time. Globally, Samsung has announced it is working closely with Olympic Games partner, Visa, to deliver NFC mobile phone payments for the London 2012 Olympics.
In reality, we’re quickly approaching the point where NFC is getting set to take off in the country. There are just a couple of pieces left to slot into place, like handsets and mobile payment apps, and once they happen, we should be living in a mobile payment brave new world. While this announcement is disappointing for people hoping to ditch their wallets, it’s not really too big a hurdle for the technologies rollout.
Cameron
Monday, May 23, 2011 at 12:37 PMIt’s never going to launch if manufacturers don’t ship the bloody hardware!
rekuhs
Monday, May 23, 2011 at 12:37 PMJust another reason to buy your tech/games/movies etc from o/s
Dave
Monday, May 23, 2011 at 3:30 PMIt wouldn’t help you, I ordered mine from Expansys UK.
No NFC to be found, but at least it had the 1.2Ghz Exynos chip…
Paul
Monday, May 23, 2011 at 7:11 PMThe launch models in the UK haven’t got NFC but the NCF enables SGS2′s will ship in June (apparently).
There are quite a few unhappy customers who got the launch version.
Chris
Monday, May 23, 2011 at 12:47 PMThen what is the whole point of launching this handset in Australia then?
bugwan
Monday, May 23, 2011 at 12:50 PMIsn’t Woolworths launching NFC compatibility in some stores soon? I know Samsung and Woolies don’t exactly have a history, but it’s a real shame this super feature is going to be withheld for that reason alone…
Daryl
Monday, May 23, 2011 at 12:58 PMnot like having the feature in their, temporarily unused is a bad thing. Though, great way to force people to buy a new phone in a year
Anonymouse
Monday, May 23, 2011 at 1:24 PMHow expensive is an NFC chip to put in the phone?
Luke
Monday, May 23, 2011 at 1:28 PMwhat a crock of S**t
im so NFC ready… all i want is my galaxy s II to have NFC…. cannot believe I waited for the release in Australia, I could have purchased handset weeks ago and been enjoying it already.
if they dont ship the handset with NFC… why bother talking up the feature at all.
so angry.
Fred
Monday, May 23, 2011 at 1:29 PMThe Nokia C7 has NFC capabilities – It just needs to be enabled with a software update. Samsung Australia are just being greedy.
Rob
Monday, May 23, 2011 at 2:03 PMIt’s the kind of thing where the phones should ship with them BEFORE the demand hits so that if people go overseas they can use them and then, shock horror, if it gets announced here, there’s a bunch of people with he technology ready to go and evangelise it without even having to buy new hardware. I swear some marketers can’t see the wood for the trees sometimes.
Nathan
Monday, May 23, 2011 at 2:07 PMAbsolute rubbish!! I was looking to get one, but if samsung can come up with this rubbish to save money and still charge us full price… little old Australia doesn’t need NFC just coz we have smaller market they say!
Tom
Monday, May 23, 2011 at 2:14 PMSo how much money will it save them not including the chip? That’s what it’ll come down to, isn’t it?
Retarded decision, Samsung.
Danny
Monday, May 23, 2011 at 2:30 PMLet the SGS II HTC Sensation war continue.
I’m off to check the carrier frequencies of the overseas model. Might ship it over so i can play with NFC. Or get a Bluetooth to NFC adapter.
Mo Kargas
Monday, May 23, 2011 at 2:33 PMGuess I won’t be buying the local market SII
Anthony Garreffa
Monday, May 23, 2011 at 2:34 PMI ordered mine from Handtec and paid ~$700 AUD, shipped.
I’m guessing it’ll be $999 here.. queue the whinging retailers.
Morkai
Monday, May 23, 2011 at 6:49 PMWell it’s $899 from mobicity, so I’d hate to see what a carrier would charge outright.
David
Wednesday, May 25, 2011 at 10:38 PMDid you get an Australian compliant 3 pin charger
David
Wednesday, May 25, 2011 at 10:39 PMDid you get an Australian compliant 3 pin charger ??
Johnny P
Monday, May 23, 2011 at 2:44 PMHTC sensation vs Samsung galaxy SII??? Are you serious. The Galaxy SII Is thinner, lighter, more internal memory, more RAM and actually looks like a new model compared to the sensation which is just the Desire HD with a dual core processor
Danny
Monday, May 23, 2011 at 2:54 PMvs Higher Res screen, made of metal not plastic and has HTC Sense. Class 10 32gb SD card means internal storage is moot.
I’m a big fan of HTC Sense. But in the end its going to come down to what i can put custom roms on.
Tim
Monday, May 23, 2011 at 3:08 PMSo…wherecan i get a samsung galaxy s ii with nfc? Every online store ive seen doesnt have it either….
Dennison
Monday, May 23, 2011 at 3:10 PMI own a store and I sort of know the insider side of contact less transactions. Visa and Mastercard work with current banks to honour any fraudulent activity for up to 48hrs using paywave/paypass.
I think honestly Samsung probably doesn’t want to guarantee that the hardware side of the technology is safe and can’t be compromised, that’s why I think we are not getting it.
I’m no programmer but I am pretty sure modders and hackers could possible find a way to stuff a brilliant concept and facility.
Andrew
Monday, May 23, 2011 at 3:26 PMNFC enabled sd cards will be available very soon if not already. So who cares the phone doesn’t have a built in NFC chip.
PeteC
Monday, May 23, 2011 at 4:41 PMSo will it be cheaper then? there you go samsung
MrIan
Tuesday, May 24, 2011 at 12:24 PMI WAS interested in getting the SG SII. But with no NFC, I’ll wait for something else to come along.
Dumb move Samsung !!!
RobM
Thursday, June 9, 2011 at 3:34 PMI”m with MrIan, i’ll wait, I was ready to buy this.
Darrell
Sunday, June 12, 2011 at 11:42 PMDoesnt matter. paywave is fine, and we all need our wallet..
Legless
Saturday, August 6, 2011 at 9:32 PMSamsung will release NFC enabled hardware when retailers start making it available and the retailers will make it available when the hardware is there. Does that logic seem a little circular to anyone else? I’m a little miffed the upgrade to my Galaxy S II is not just a software/firmware one. I’m certainly not buying another one for several years. Hopefully an NFC enabled SD card can do it.
brett
Wednesday, October 5, 2011 at 11:42 PMI love korea and they have it all but australia is so far behind no onder we are called the back country.