The Potential of UHF RFID in Smartphones? Interview with Eiko Gramlich, Zebra Technologies

Will a UHF RFID-enabled smartphone change logistics in 2025?

The Potential of UHF RFID in Smartphones?

Technology Article | Interview

Zebra · January 17, 2025 · 3 min
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What to expect

In late summer 2024, the RAIN Alliance together with Qualcomm, Impinj and Decathlon published a joint announcement on the topic of “UHF RFID in smartphones”.

Qualcomm issued the following statement: “The integration of RAIN (UHF RFID) technology into mobile devices is progressing rapidly, with initial deployments focused on enterprise mobile devices and expected within a few quarters. Consumer devices equipped with RFID technology will soon follow”.

Eiko Gramlich, Senior Account Manager RFID, Zebra Technologies, assesses the development of UHF technology from the perspective of a handheld manufacturer. He provides an overview of the areas of application and future opportunities for consumers.

Interview with Eiko Gramlich

1. What technological challenges need to be overcome to successfully integrate UHF into smartphones?

Eiko Gramlich: That’s a perfect question: our EM45 RFID Enterprise Mobile was officially launched at the beginning of January (January 9th 2025). The device is already a smartphone with UHF RFID, and a rugged one at that!

2. What added value does UHF offer in cell phones and which target groups or markets benefit most from it?

Eiko Gramlich: We think there is a big market here, for example, for mobile checkout applications in the fashion retail sector. The salesperson can call the customer directly after the purchase decision. This saves a lot of time, is convenient for the customer and creates customer loyalty. The sales associate scans the item, which is tagged with a UHF tag, and makes the payment via NFC.

We also see the use of a smartphone with UHF, for example, in returns processing and for scanning tags that are sewn into textiles or integrated into parts. RFID tags are embedded in some vehicle parts or even load carriers, and often there is no additional barcode label that could be optically detected (example: car seat). A smartphone can always be used as a fallback for a barcode scanner or a conventional RFID handheld device.

However, due to the much smaller antenna integrated into the device, only a shorter reading range can be achieved compared to a conventional RFID gun. We are talking about a reading range of just over one meter. The device can read 20 tags per second. Therefore, the smartphone is not really recommended for in-store inventory. However, it is definitely suitable for tracking and quickly reading smaller numbers of transponders.

3. What applications are conceivable for the end user?

Eiko Gramlich: Whether there will be relevant consumer applications remains to be seen. This will depend on the extent to which UHF is used at the product level in the consumer sector in the future, e.g. as part of the digital product passport.

The upcoming PPWR (Packaging & Packaging Waste Reduction) regulation will also contribute to a stronger market penetration of UHF RFID, potentially reaching the end consumer.

From today’s perspective, I would say that an optical solution (1D/2D codes) or NFC is currently ahead due to the availability of compatible hardware. For now…

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