HMI for small desktop laboratory equipment
IMHO I think it's entirely dependent on your application requirements. Data rates, latency, distance, etc... For example, In our truck scale application, the scale talks to a cell modem which connects to centralized servers. The phone app connects to the centralized server. In this manner information can be exchanged between many truck stops while only authenticating once.

If you intend to have many users and hosts, then a centralized architecture allows you to tap in at the backbone for things like upgrades and user management. Can't do that with a bunch of NFC pairs.