Near-field communication, better known as NFC, is a wireless connectivity protocol similar to Bluetooth. NFC uses less power than Bluetooth and is faster when pairing devices, but it only has a range of about four inches. Some headphones use NFC technology to drive the process of pairing headphones with smartphones, but because of the range, it’s not used to transmit sound. While both Android phones and iPhones include NFC chips, it’s not accessible in Apple devices, so if you want a pair of headphones with NFC, you’ll need to own an Android phone to take advantage of the faster pairing.