Multiple Secure Elements Drive NFC Market above $1 Billion in 2016

Out of a total of 552 million NFC handsets shipped in 2016, 227 million will feature multiple secure elements. The increased inclusion of multiple secure elements will drive the mobile NFC market valuation above the $1 billion mark.

Although MNOs favor SWP SIM implementation, the market will develop with both SWP and embedded solutions shipping onto single devices. Continued development of ICs combining both controller and secure element will result in most handsets shipping with an embedded solution as standard practice. ABI Research forecasts that 78% of all NFC handsets will ship with some form of embedded secure solution in 2016.

Research analyst Phil Sealy says, “The issues affecting the location of the secure element remain a hot topic and although progress has been made there remains uncertainty among ecosystem players.” As the market matures and business models are realized and deployed, a variety of secure elements are being deployed into devices to meet different client demands. In the long run, this will allow service providers to enter the NFC market alongside MNOs, in turn making the offerings of NFC applications more competitive.

As well as the well-publicized NFC handset market, lesser known sectors, such as CE devices, tags, bridging solutions, and other markets will account for additional IC shipments totaling 534 million in 2016.

NFC will be an extremely prosperous market for IC vendors, generating estimated revenues totaling $1.3 billion in 2016 in the handset market alone. John Devlin, group director, security and ID, adds, “The ongoing uncertainly over secure elements and ownership will drive IC vendors to develop a variety of competitive solutions, including integrating the NFC RF in a combo connectivity IC or the baseband, embedding the secure element and controller together, as well as standalone solutions. This will enable a number of business models to develop and be served, meeting the anticipated long-term market requirement to support more than one secure element in a device.”

ABI Research’s new study, “NFC ICs and Devices,” provides regional shipment data on NFC handsets, handset secure elements by form factor, consumer electronics, bridging solutions, stickers, and inlays.
It is part of three of ABI Research’s research services: RFID, Smart Cards and Embedded Security, and Wireless Connectivity.

ABI Research provides in-depth analysis and quantitative forecasting of trends in global connectivity and other emerging technologies. From offices in North America, Europe and Asia, ABI Research’s worldwide team of experts advises thousands of decision makers through 40+ research and advisory services. Est. 1990. For more information visit www.abiresearch.com, or call +1.516.624.2500.