It could be that wireless charging will skip out the upcoming iPhone 5S but two new powerful features will come rolling out with the Apple smartphone by mid-year, new reports said.

Apple is reportedly deploying near field communication (NFC) chip and fingerprint sensor capability with the 2013 iPhone refresh, according to MacRumors, quoting Japanese blog site MacOtakara as its source.

NFC will allow iPhone users to process payment by simply poking their handset into a POS terminal while the fingerprint sensor will add up to security, limiting the use of the new iPhone 5S to its owner.

While the latter addition was expected, reported earlier by KGI Securities and supported by Apple's $US356 million purchase of security firm AuthenTec last year, the former came as a surprise as Phil Schiller, senior Apple executive, famously downplayed earlier the entry of NFC to Apple's mobile devices.

"Passbook does the kinds of things customers need today," Mr Schiller was reported by AllThingsD as saying.

The apparent reversal suggests that the company has made all the necessary adjustments to ensure that the iPhone 5S remains the top-notch handset that will compete with high-end Android phones this year - the pack being led by Samsung's Galaxy S4 and Galaxy Note 3.

NFC has become an iPhone possibility with the entry of fingerprint sensor to the picture.

"Apple will use the fingerprint sensor functionality to enhance the security of NFC features such as mobile payments," MacRumors said on its report.

The new report came out following the speculations that whirled around last week pointing to the iPhone 5S's production start this March, purportedly to meet Apple's likely June-July debut target for the new handset. The launch reportedly includes the 5S's twin gadget - known for now as the budget iPhone.

Aside from the two new features, experts believe nothing much will change on the iPhone 5S overall look, being an S model, save for minor bump ups inside the shell.

However, many blog reports have indicated that Apple will sell the iPhone 5S in more colour options, expanding from the standard black and white, while the cam and display features will get considerable boosts.