Phones With NFC: Which Cheap Ones Have It, by Country

The cheapest phones with NFC on the makers’ own stores we went through are the Moto G Play 2026 and the TCL 60 XE NXTPAPER 5G in the US, both selling at $199.99, the POCO C85 in the UK at £129, and the realme C85 5G in India at ₹21,999.

Country comes first because the same model name can have NFC in one market and not in the next. Nothing’s own spec sheet for the Phone (4b) reads “NFC: Yes (Excluding India)”. Motorola’s UK sheet for the moto g57 power says Yes, and its Indian sheet for the moto g57 power 5G says No.

Flagships are not the problem. The Galaxy S26 on Samsung’s Africa sheet, the Pixel 11, Xiaomi 17, OnePlus 15 and motorola signature on their Indian sheets, and the iPhone 17 on Apple’s all list NFC.

Samsung’s Galaxy A phones split the same way. Oscar Frank, who runs this site, bought the Galaxy A07, A17, A27, A37 and A57 and used all five, and the A17 and the A37 are the two Oscar would buy. The comparison of this year’s Galaxy A phones has those verdicts. What Samsung’s spec sheets say about NFC on each one, region by region, is in the first table below.

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What NFC does

NFC is a radio that works over a very short distance. Samsung’s help page puts it at a touch to a few centimetres. On a phone it does four jobs: paying by tapping a card terminal, holding transit cards and tickets, reading and writing NFC tags, and pairing with headphones or a speaker by touching the two together.

How to check if your phone has NFC

• Any Android phone: Google’s Wallet help says to open Settings and type “NFC” in the search bar. On a Pixel the full path is Settings, Connected devices, Connection preferences, NFC. Google’s Pixel help is blunt about the result: if you don’t see the NFC setting, the phone doesn’t have NFC.
• Samsung: Settings, Connections, NFC and contactless payments, on Samsung’s own NFC page. There is also an NFC button in the quick settings panel.
• Before you buy: read the spec sheet on the maker’s site for your own country, not a review written somewhere else. Where the sheet is silent, look for the phone on the maker’s wallet list.

NFC alone is not enough to pay with. Google Wallet also wants Android 9 or later, a screen lock and a phone that is Play Protect certified. Google says Wallet does not run on rooted phones and may not work in shops on one with an unlocked bootloader.

Galaxy A phones: NFC by region

Prices are Samsung’s own for the cheapest version in each store. Samsung’s Africa site prints no prices. “No NFC line” means the spec sheet says nothing about NFC either way.

A missing line is not a “No”. Samsung’s UK sheets for the A27, A37 and A57 leave NFC out, while its Indian and African sheets for the same three say Yes, and Samsung UK’s Wallet eligibility page lists all three along with the A17 5G. Samsung’s US product pages gave us no NFC line to read at all. Its US Samsung Wallet FAQ names the A17, A27, A37 and A57 as compatible.

Two phones need care:

• Galaxy A17. There are two. The 4G model’s sheet says “NFC: Yes” in the UK and Africa. The 5G model’s sheet has no NFC line in any region we opened. In India its page advertises Tap & Pay with Samsung Wallet, which the same page says uses NFC. For Africa Samsung says nothing about the 5G model, so check in Settings before the shop’s return period ends.
• Galaxy A07. No Samsung sheet we opened lists NFC for it, 4G or 5G, and it is on neither Wallet list. Treat it as a phone without NFC unless Settings shows otherwise. Oscar rates it fine as a first phone or a spare, and that is a second reason to look higher up the range.

Our guide to Samsung’s whole range covers the dearer S and Z phones.

Cheaper phones from other makers

“Listed” means the maker’s spec sheet names NFC under connectivity without a yes or no.

What the makers’ pages show, brand by brand:

• Motorola gives every 2026 Moto G on its US store a “Yes”. On its Indian store every Moto G in stock is marked “No”, from the moto g06 power at ₹15,249 to the moto g max at ₹25,999. In the UK the moto e15 is marked “No” as well.
• Xiaomi lists NFC on its UK pages with a note that it may vary between markets, and it does. The Indian pages for the Redmi A7 Pro 5G, REDMI 17 5G, REDMI Note 17 5G and REDMI Note 17 Pro 5G print no NFC line. Xiaomi’s Nigerian site shows no prices. Its sheets there list NFC for the REDMI 17 and REDMI 15 and leave it off the REDMI A7, A7 Pro, 15C and Note 15.
• realme writes “Unsupported” on most of its Indian spec sheets, the P4s 5G and 16 Pro 5G among them. The C85 5G and the GT phones say “Supported”. realme’s UK home page shows two watches and no phones.
• Nothing is the clearest. The Phone (4b), Phone (4a), Phone (3a) Lite and CMF Phone 2 Pro all say Yes with India excluded. The Phone (4a) Pro says a plain Yes. Nothing’s Indian site prints no prices.
• Google lists NFC for the Pixel 10a on its US, UK and Indian spec pages, at $599, £599 and ₹55,999.

The cheapest phone with NFC

• US: the Moto G Play 2026 or the TCL 60 XE NXTPAPER 5G, $199.99 each while both stores have them $50 under list. If you can add $45, we would buy the Galaxy A17 5G, which Samsung’s store was selling at $244.99. It is Oscar’s budget pick of the five Galaxy A phones, and Samsung US names it as compatible with Samsung Wallet. The Galaxy A37 5G, Oscar’s pick for almost everybody, is on the same list at $489.99. Our guide to unlocked phones compares these on US networks. Moto G Play 2026 on Amazon, TCL 60 XE NXTPAPER 5G on Amazon, Samsung Galaxy A17 5G on Amazon, Samsung Galaxy A37 5G on Amazon
• UK: the POCO C85, £129 on Xiaomi’s store. It is a 4G phone with a 720p screen, and the next ones with NFC cost £70 more: the moto g67, the POCO M8 5G and, on offer, the Nothing Phone (3a) Lite, all at £199. Samsung’s cheapest with “NFC: Yes” on the sheet is the 4G Galaxy A17 at £219.
• India: the realme C85 5G, ₹21,999, if you accept realme’s note that support depends on the region. The cheapest with an unqualified Yes is the motorola edge 70 fusion at ₹30,999, which is also the pick for that budget in our guide to Android phones in India. The Galaxy A27 5G lists NFC at ₹33,999, but Oscar’s verdict on it is to skip it at its price. The Galaxy A37 5G at ₹46,999 is the one Oscar recommends, and its Indian sheet says Yes.
• Nigeria and the rest of Africa: Samsung’s Africa sheets say Yes for the 4G Galaxy A17 and for the A27, A37 and A57. Read the next section before paying extra for it.

Where tap to pay works

NFC in the phone does not mean you can pay with it where you live. Google keeps a country-by-country page for Google Wallet. Of the 233 countries and territories in its menu, it ticks tap to pay for 113, the US, the UK and South Africa among them. The only other African countries ticked are Botswana, Mauritius and Morocco.

• Nigeria is on the list with a tick for the Wallet app and the Wallet website and a cross against tap to pay. So is Ghana. Kenya is not on the list at all, which Google says means Wallet is not available there yet.
• India has a tick for the Wallet app only, with crosses against tap to pay and the website. For payments Google’s Indian help pages use the Google Pay app instead. It can tap to pay with a Mastercard, RuPay or Visa card from a supported bank, and it has Tap & Pay on UPI at shops with a UPI NFC tag. Both need an NFC phone. Without one, Google’s advice is to carry on with Scan & Pay.

In Nigeria, where Google offers no tap to pay, NFC still reads tags and pairs accessories. It is a weak reason to spend more on a phone there.

Quick answers

Does the Samsung Galaxy A17 have NFC?

The 4G Galaxy A17 does on Samsung’s UK and Africa spec sheets. The A17 5G’s sheets do not mention NFC, but Samsung lists it for Samsung Wallet in the US and the UK and advertises Tap & Pay on it in India.

Does the Samsung Galaxy A07 have NFC?

Samsung’s spec sheets for India and Africa list no NFC for the A07, and it is not on Samsung’s Wallet lists. Check Settings, Connections on the phone itself before relying on it.

What is the cheapest phone with NFC?

On the makers’ own stores: $199.99 in the US for the Moto G Play 2026 or TCL 60 XE NXTPAPER 5G, £129 in the UK for the POCO C85, and ₹21,999 in India for the realme C85 5G.

How do I check if my phone has NFC?

Open Settings and search for “NFC”. Google says that if the setting is not there, the phone does not have it.

Can I use Google Pay without NFC?

Not for tap to pay. Google’s Indian help page says a phone with no NFC should use other modes such as Scan & Pay.

Prices move, so confirm on the maker’s store before you pay.