Next-Generation Mobile Devices with Gen2X-Enhanced RFID Boost Employee Productivity

Device manufacturers including AMobile, Bluebird, Chainway, Unitech, UROVO, and Zebra are delivering next-generation enterprise mobile devices with embedded RAIN RFID, enabled by a growing ecosystem that includes leading chipset providers Qualcomm Technologies and MediaTek. Impinj Gen2X® support in mobile devices helps deliver the performance and protection needed to unlock new retail, supply chain, and other enterprise use cases.

Enterprise mobile devices with embedded RAIN RFID are entering a new phase. For the first time, a growing ecosystem of device manufacturers and chipset providers are bringing RAIN RFID into smartphone-sized handhelds, rugged tablets, and other mobile devices that employees can carry or attach to their equipment throughout their workdays. Rather than relying solely on traditional handheld readers, retailers, logistics providers, manufacturers, and healthcare organizations now have a broad range of enterprise-class mobile devices that combine RAIN RFID read and write capabilities with barcode scanning, cameras, cellular connectivity, and business applications.

Making these devices practical for enterprise use cases requires more than simply integrating RAIN RFID hardware. With support for Impinj Gen2X innovations, compact mobile devices can deliver RFID reads with speed, accuracy, and reliability enterprises need to unlock use cases that boost employee productivity and enhance customer experiences.

Four Use-Case Examples That Showcase Why Gen2X Matters

1. Locating individual items-of-interest quickly

Employees must find specific items countless times each day: Fashion store customers ask for help with sizes and colors of clothing, grocery store employees hunt for expiring fresh food items, while supply chain teams seek out items that were recalled, loaded incorrectly, or require exception processing. Mobile devices use RAIN RFID to pinpoint each item’s current whereabouts, enabling employees to quickly locate products on specific shelves or racks in the store.

RFID location scans for a tag of interest by re-inventorying it multiple times, using changes in tag response strength to determine the reader’s proximity. Gen2X speeds up re-inventorying of tags-of-interest by up to 100%, helping employees locate specific items faster.

2. Increasing real-time inventory visibility with continuous mobile reading

Fresh inventory information improves on-shelf availability and ensures reliable inventory visibility for customers, but traditional handheld scanners can’t continuously capture inventory data in real time, leaving retailers with only periodic inventory counts. Mobile RAIN readers can change this equation: As employees naturally restock shelves, serve customers, or fulfill online orders, their movements can provide a continuous mobile inventory data stream to increase real-time accuracy of inventory management.

Gen2X makes passive scanning practical by improving tag read ranges, even with small tags in challenging environments. In recent Xindeco Gen2X tests, small VersaMini tags only 3mm away from a large metal surface were readable from over 1.5-meter distances – more than 50% better range performance than non-Gen2X tags. When Xindeco tested these tags with around 800 health and beauty products on retail shelves, Gen2X increased the number of items inventoried in 10 seconds at a 2-meter read range by over 70% compared with Gen2. Greater range and tag reading reliability make previously challenging retail inventory checks painless.

3. Automating and verifying the picking process

Omnichannel fulfillment puts intense pressure on retailers and warehouses to pick orders faster and more accurately at scale. RAIN-enabled mobile devices transform manual picking into guided, automated workflows with screens showing what, where, and how many items need to be retrieved in real time. Devices confirm items and quantities are correct during picking, improving accuracy and reducing costly errors.

Back-of-store environments and warehouses are notoriously cluttered with products. Gen2X improves tag filtering and decluttering in retail spaces, enabling devices to ignore irrelevant RFID tags and quickly locate specific items of interest to speed up the picking process.

4. Protecting against counterfeits by authenticating items

Counterfeit items cost the global economy hundreds of billions of dollars annually, damaging brand reputations and creating consumer safety risks. Equipping employees with RAIN-enabled mobile devices enables authentication to be performed anywhere in the supply chain – factories, warehouses, distribution centers, retail stores, or even points of sale.

RAIN-enabled mobile devices with Gen2X can perform on-the-spot chip authentication, enabling staff to verify product authenticity with near-100% certainty and without impacting inventory speed.

Enterprise-Class Mobile RFID Devices Are Available Now

Enterprise mobile RFID devices are being utilized across retail stores, distribution centers, warehouses, factories, and healthcare environments to improve frontline worker efficiency. Leading mobile chipset providers Qualcomm Technologies and MediaTek now support RAIN-enabled mobile platforms, enabling device manufacturers including AMobile, Bluebird, Chainway, Unitech, UROVO, and Zebra to bring new enterprise-class mobile devices to market. The next major step forward for small form factor RFID readers is direct integration of RFID reading capabilities within mobile chipsets. Qualcomm has taken this step with its Dragonwing Q-6690 enterprise mobile processor, which integrates RAIN RFID capabilities directly into the chipset and is Gen2X-capable.

Together, these devices are making it easier for enterprises to deploy RFID across a wider range of mobile form factors, while unlocking new use cases with Gen2X capabilities.

Check out a collection of mobile devices with Gen2X support below, visit this page for our most recent partner announcements, and learn more about Gen2X by downloading our guide.