iFans will be disappointed with the news that the much-rumored iPhone 5 may not be equipped with Near-Field Communication (NFC) technology.

The addition of Passbook to iOS 6, an electronic ticket organizer, coupled with recently leaked images of iPhone 5 gave hope to iPhone enthusiasts that the next-gen iPhone will be NFC enabled. However, AnandTech released an analysis that describes why Apple's iPhone 5 may not have NFC at all.

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"Given the primarily metal backside of the new iPhone, it's highly unlikely that NFC is in the cards for this generation. In fact, given the very little space at top and bottom dedicated to those glass RF windows, you can almost entirely rule it out," indicated the AnandTech analysis.

The NFC antenna will need plenty of space and is likely to be located at either the top or bottom of the smartphone.

AnandTech noted that "With an NFC antenna at the extreme top or bottom, alignment with non-iPhones (for example, payment tokens or reader tags) becomes a much more confusing task, and that doesn't seem like the Apple-like level of polish everyone is waiting for to drive NFC adoption."

However, an Apple patent confirms a motion-based payment system for iDevices. NFC is one of the several platforms that will work with this mobile payment technology.

A SlashGear report, that detailed the patent, gave insights into how the payment system would work.

"Payment transactions increasingly occur without the use of physical payment objects such as credit cards or cash. For example, online purchases may be made using credit card information stored in an online account maintained by a merchant or by a payment service such as PayPal. Further, financial account information may be stored on electronic devices and transferred using contactless means, such as near field communication (NFC), radio-frequency identification (RFID), or networking, to complete payment transactions," indicated the SlashGear report.

If the above information is to be believed then the iPhone 5 may not be NFC enabled. However, the possibility of iPhone 5 having a mobile payment system cannot be ruled out either. iFans will have to wait and see what the highly-anticipated iPhone 5 Sept. 12 debut brings their way.

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