Qualcomm plans to address efficiency issues with a new ultra-low power NFC chip, the QCA1990. The new chip features an overall footprint that is about 50 percent smaller than current NFC solutions and it should deliver much better efficiency.
The QCA1990 is designed to be integrated with Snapdragon S4 processors and it also supports antenna form factors that are eight times smaller than current market offerings. So, with the new chip phone designers could come up with NFC modules the size of a grain of rice.
The new chips will sample to customers in Q1 2013 and commercial design employing the chip should appear by Q3 2013.