Samsung Galaxy S26 may finally fix an annoying contactless payment issue

Samsung’s flagship phones house the NFC antenna coil in the upper central area of the back panel, just below or around the right of the camera module. This inconsistent placement can make contactless payments tricky, as many users might not be aware of the exact location. Samsung will seemingly put an end to this problem with the Galaxy S26 series next year.

An ETNews report, citing “multiple industry sources,” claims Samsung will add an NFC antenna to the top of the Galaxy S26. The change aims to make contactless payments easier, ensuring users don’t have to place their wrist at an awkward angle on the NFC reader for the payment to go through.

The varying placement across devices also leads to payments failing on the first attempt. This is unlike the iPhone, where users can simply tap the top half of the phone on the machine, and the payment goes through seamlessly.

Samsung will apparently not change the NFC coil’s location; instead, it will add a new NFC antenna to deliver a better contactless payments experience. Many Android phones come with a dual-NFC antenna design to work around this problem.

On the Galaxy S24 Ultra, the NFC coil sits slightly higher, while on the S25 Ultra, it’s positioned noticeably lower. Worse, on the Galaxy S23 Ultra, the NFC coil sits right in the middle of the rear, alongside the wireless charging coil. The inconsistent and awkward placement of the NFC antenna makes contactless payments challenging, often requiring you to hold your phone at an odd angle against the terminal.

Samsung even has a dedicated page highlighting the NFC detection area on all its devices.

Apple’s patents may explain why Samsung took so long to fix this

Given the inconvenience, why did it take Samsung so long to even consider making this change? The report cites an industry official and reveals that Apple holds several patents related to this, forcing Samsung to spend a “considerable amount of time to technically circumvent them.”

Samsung has yet to finalize the design of the Galaxy S26 lineup, though. This means there’s a possibility the company might decide against putting an NFC antenna at the top. But if the company goes through with the change, it should improve the contactless payment experience on its next flagship.