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NFC TIMES Exclusive Insight – Shipments of NFC secure elements almost certainly fell in 2016, based on recent figures released by vendor association Eurosmart, though the group is again declining to release specific shipment figures for NFC cards and embedded chips, instead combining the NFC unit shipments with those for machine-to-machine modules.

NFC TIMES Exclusive Insight – SIM card vendor trade group the SIMalliance acknowledged for the first time that NFC SIM shipments are dropping and blamed disappointing take-up by consumers, as well as the tail end of the impact of the closing of the Softcard joint venture in early 2015. The group again declined to release global NFC SIM shipment figures, however.

NFC Times Exclusive – NFC secure element shipments for 2016 will be lower than earlier forecasts by card and chip vendor trade association Eurosmart, although the group is not saying by how much.

NFC Times Exclusive Insight –  It is perhaps a measure of just how big of a hit SIM suppliers took from the closing of the Softcard wallet in the U.S. early last year that their SIMalliance vendor trade group is refusing to release NFC SIM shipment figures publicly for either the North American market or globally for 2015.

NFC Times Exclusive Insight – PARIS: Vendor trade group Eurosmart is projecting that NFC secure element shipments will grow by 20% in 2016 to 590 million, mainly fueled by increased shipments of embedded secure elements for NFC phones.

NFC Times Exclusive Insight – Smart card vendor association Eurosmart has confirmed its estimate that vendors shipped 350 million NFC secure elements last year, up 30% from the year before, fueled by embedded chips in Apple’s iPhones and what is probably the last significant growth spurt in NFC SIM card shipments. It predicts shipments of 550 million secure elements in 2015, up 57% from 2014, though revised downward from an earlier projection.

NFC Times Exclusive Insight – The SIMalliance vendor group is playing up what it calls soaring growth in NFC SIM shipments in 2014, despite troubling signs for the future of SIM-based NFC, such as Apple Pay and similar initiatives by other OEMs, as well as growing interest in host-card emulation and the failure of SIM-based NFC services to take off.

SIM vendor association SIMalliance offered more details about its members’ overall NFC SIM shipments in 2013, and despite the emergence of such alternatives as host-card emulation, the group contends that “significant increases in NFC (SIM) shipments look set to continue globally.”

Vendor association Eurosmart has confirmed its estimate of 250 million secure elements shipped in 2013, up from 150 million units in 2012, and reported strong growth for contactless EMV cards; but it's not clear whether the group will stick with its projection made last November of 435 million secure elements for this year.

The SIMalliance vendor group said its members shipped 78 million NFC SIMs last year, with Japan and South Korea again the top destination for the high-end cards.