As mobile phone manufacturers look to the emerging markets of nations like China and India to boost sales, they are discovering a tech-savvy consumer base that demands both advanced features in their phones and an affordable price. For makers targeting Asian consumers, low-priced NFC-enabled phones are a must, as experts predict Asia will be the take-off point for the technology.

Instead of the features-laden phones sold in the developed world at high price points, manufacturers are looking at mix-and-match packages for phones, cherry-picking popular features to create distinctive phones without upping prices. Pressure is also on semiconductor manufacturers to pack more components within chips, which reduces demands on a phone’s internal real estate and lowers supply chain complexity, and ultimately lowers costs for device manufacturers.