Apple is working with Dutch firm NXP, the world’s leading NFC chipset vendor, to include the short-range wireless technology in the next iPhone, according to The Financial Times.

An NFC-based iPhone would enable users to tap and pay for goods in shops as well as buy tickets on public transport, among other applications.

Whether an NFC-based smartphone will be showcased at Apple’s forthcoming 9 September is, however, unclear from the report.

Apple has just mailed out invites to confirm next month’s date, which was widely expected anyway, for its next product launch

Neither Apple or NXP commented on whether the new iPhone expected next month will include NFC technology.

This of course is not the first time that it has been suggested that NFC will be adopted by Apple but the mention of NXP is more substantive than some previous speculation.

More certain at the 9 September event is the appearance of two new iPhones, expected to sport larger screens than their predecessors and to carry a variant on iPhone 6 name.

There has also been significant speculation that Apple will launch a wearable, such as a smart watch, at the 9 September event.

CEO Tim Cook has said Apple will break into a new product category this year. A wearable would showcase updates such as Homekit and Healthkit that are due with iOS8.

In preparation for Healthkit, Apple tightened up rules on how developers can handle user data. They are explicitly forbidden to sell user’s health data gathered through Healthkit to advertisers.

Re/code, which previously tipped the wearable for its own launch event in October says it will arrive on 9 September.