There are several smartphones with NFC support available in South Africa for less than R2,300.
South Africans wanting to ditch their physical bank cards can make the switch to smartphone-based tap-to-pay with devices priced from R1,399.
As with bank cards, smartphones must be equipped with a near-field communication (NFC) chip to support tap-to-pay functionality.
The technology uses short-range radio waves to enable a card reader to process encrypted card data on a payment device.
Tap-to-pay has become increasingly common in South Africa as more devices and payment terminals support NFC, including tap payments with digital wallets from Apple, Google, and Samsung.
Many major South African banks encourage their customers to sign up for digital wallets rather than insert or swipe plastic cards because digital wallets offer improved security.
Tap payments through devices like smartwatches and smartphones also offer better security than tapping a physical bank card.
While tap payments made with cards are significantly safer than swiping or inserting a physical card, many banks don’t allow customers to set a maximum tap amount before a PIN is required.
A thief who gets their hands on someone’s card could make several tap transactions without the cardholder’s PIN, allowing them to steal thousands of rands before the victim can cancel their card.
Banks mitigate against this in various ways, such as randomly prompting for the card’s PIN even for transactions below the PIN-less tap payment threshold.
To encourage the use of more secure, device-enabled tap payments, all major banks in South Africa have rolled out support for wallets like Apple Wallet, Google Wallet, Samsung Wallet, and Garmin Wallet.
This has proven relatively successful. According to Nedbank’s latest annual results, contactless payments increased by 54% year-on-year.
It should be noted that this figure applies only to device-based contactless payments, including those made with smartphones, smartwatches, and other devices that support digital wallets.
The figure includes payments made through Apple Pay, Samsung Pay, and similar digital wallets. It excludes tap payments made with physical bank cards.
FNB previously told MyBroadband that its digital wallet volumes and values had grown by 74% and 77% between 2023 and 2024.
“The rapid growth in digital wallet adoption demonstrates their importance in the financial ecosystem,” FNB card division head of spend and customer value management, Ashley Saffy, said.
“With increasing transaction volumes and values, digital wallets are shaping the future of payments by offering a secure, convenient, and eco-friendly alternative to physical cards.”
MyBroadband looked for the most affordable NFC-enabled smartphones available to South African consumers and found three great options under R2,300.
The most affordable option is the African-made Mara X1, which is available from Takealot for R1,399. The smartphone offers impressive specs for the price point.
It features a 6.08-inch display with a 1,560×720-pixel resolution and support for 4G connectivity. The Mara X1 packs a quad-core MediaTek Helio A20 processor and PowerVR GE8320 graphics processor.
It has 3GB of RAM and 32GB of internal storage, which can be expanded to up to 256GB with a microSD card.
Regarding its photographic capabilities, the Mara X1 features a triple-camera configuration with a 13MP main shooter, a 2MP depth sensor, and a 2MP macro lens.
The selfie notch in the front display houses an 8MP camera that supports face ID biometrics. The smartphone runs Android 10 out of the box and packs a 4,000mAh battery.
The next-most-affordable option was the TCL 60R 5G for R1,799 from Technomobi. The NFC-enabled device features a 6.7-inch display with a 1,600×720-pixel resolution and a 120Hz refresh rate.
The smartphone runs Android 15 out of the box and packs an octa-core MediaTek Dimensity 6300 processor and ARM Mali-G57 MC2 graphics processor.
This is combined with 4GB of RAM and 128GB of internal storage, which can be expanded to 2TB with a microSD card.
The TCL 60R has a dual-rear-camera setup comprising a 50MP primary shooter and a secondary auxiliary lens. Selfies are taken using the 8MP hole-punch front camera.
The smartphone packs a 5,200mAh battery that supports a charging rate of 10W via USB-C, and it supports 5G connectivity.
Another affordable option was the Xiaomi Redmi A7 Pro, available from Takealot for R2,299. In addition to NFC support, it features a 6.9-inch, 120Hz display with a 1,600×720-pixel resolution.
The smartphone is powered by a Unisoc T7250 processor and 4GB of RAM. It packs 128GB of internal storage, which can be expanded to up to 1TB.
It features a single 13MP wide-angle shooter on the rear and an 8MP notch selfie camera on the front. The Redmi A7 Pro runs Android 16 out of the box and packs a 6,000mAh battery.
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