4.7-Inch iPhone to Feature Wireless Charging Next Year

[IG88]

I understand the importance of this tech for waterproofing devices, though It would scare me to think we could eventually have an iPhone with zero ports because everything is wireless. It makes sense on the watch, however, I am not interested in wireless charging of the phone itself.

Technology that radiates energy throughout the room to charge a phone. No thanks...

Zero ports? How would someone ever recover using iTunes?

No encrypted back ups, No sense in Apples stance on privacy..
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Not unless an option for fully encrypted back up to iCloud is introduced before then.

They won't do a 0 port phone. No way to image it using iTunes or make full backups like you said. It would take days with 1 Mbps upload speed to make a fully encrypted iCloud backup of a full 32 GB phone.

 

[chromatixprint]

Apple going round 3 with the IPhone 6 kind of does that to you

And yet they get some of us every time!

 

[ArmCortexA8]

iPhone 8, no speakers (must use headphones), no lightning port and maybe no physical buttons - all touch sensitive

 

[Analog Kid]

I'm actually pretty keen on an all glass, no lightning design. I've never been much for wireless charging, but if they could really get rid of that last port I'd be game. Yes, I know some vocal people have a different opinion on such things.

Recovery could be handled wirelessly. Apple Watch is port-less.

My big question is portability of the charger. I don't want to have to carry a bunch of charging mats around when I travel unless they're quite small in form factor.

Secondary question, though I rarely use them with my phone, is how a backup battery would work-- do I need to keep a mat in my backpack to charge with?

 

[Analog Kid]

This ^

I do not understand why Apple think that an iPhone Plus should get all the funky features and leave those who have no interest in an oversized device (each to their own of course) to just the basics. It makes no sense to me at all.

Essentially they are saying if you don't go large you can't have the features....bizarre logic!

The bigger phones also have the advantage of more space to support more features. Extra hardware, extra circuits, more batter, better heat dissipation...
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Wireless whatever is a waste of energy and Earth aggression and should be avoided whenever possible.

Good as a general rule, but interestingly, not always true. Cables have a loss per linear distance while transmission has a loss per doubling of distance. There's a place where those two cross over.

For example, if you have a cable with a loss of 3dB per meter (you have a crappy cable, but it also makes for easy numbers) and it takes 1W to send your data 1 meter, then it will take 2W to send your data two meters. The kicker is that it will take 4W to send the data 3 meters.

If you send it by radio and it takes 1W to send your data 1 meter, it will still take 2W to send your data 2 meters, but then you can get as far as 4 meters with 4W.

 

[Mac 128]

No, The Watch does have a diagnostic port. It has a minuscule amount of storage which is limited to photos and music anyway.

Don't understand what you mean about backing up your phone to a Mac over wifi, do you mean Wifi Sync? If so it isn't the same thing. As for not plugging a your phone into a Mac for years, thats you, who is supposed to develop software for these mythical portless iOS devices? Should they be expected to do everything over Wifi?

Apple got away with the headphone jack removal because they provided wired headphones that worked over lightning and an adapter with the device. Why did they bother doing that if everybody is suddenly going to switch to wireless? That was an admission that plenty of people still want to use wired headphones. If they remove that option entirely people will not be so forgiving.

The funniest part of the whole suggestion of iOS devices without ports is that Apple would have people believe the iPad can replace your laptop. With no ports?

The iPad actually needs more i/o not less.

The port is not user accessible, as I stated. Therefore it's effectively portless as far as the consumer is concerned.

How is wifi sync not the same as backing up my iPhone? That's exactly what it does.

The Apple Watch already does everything via wireless -- plenty of developers supporting that.

They won't remove the ability to connect a wire to the iPhone, just an invasive port. Apple has already introduced a sealed SmartConnector capable of the same essential support offered via Lightning now.

The Lightning buds can't be used on anything but newer iOS devices, so they aren't for everybody. The 3.5mm adapter is there for other uses a customer may face as part of the transition. It's specious to suggest that the inclusion is there because nobody would buy the iPhone 7 without them. And you have presented absolutely zero data to back up your claims.

And I certainly never stated anything about an iPad with no ports. There's no reason to remove them from the iPad as yet because it doesn't need to be sealed in such a way as a mobile phone can benefit. And the Retina MB seems to be selling quite well with one port, as a mostly wireless device. It's not that hard to imagine removing that port at a certain point in the future as well.

 

[Cloudsurfer]

iPhone 8, no speakers (must use headphones), no lightning port and maybe no physical buttons - all touch sensitive

This. I don't like that one bit but I'm afraid this is where it's headed.

 

[keithjfuller]

Wireless charging where you put the phone on a mat, rather than on a dock.... don't really see the benefit.

But if wireless charging can work where you have a few things plugged in around the house so that the phone isn't losing its charge while you're using it, without it needing to be placed somewhere.... potentially brilliant.

If you don't see the benefit then you've never used one.

 

[apolloa]

This guy is really throwing anything at the wall now... they really are guessing..

I don't trust any rumours currently and wouldn't do until the middle of next year.
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I understand the importance of this tech for waterproofing devices, though It would scare me to think we could eventually have an iPhone with zero ports because everything is wireless. It makes sense on the watch, however, I am not interested in wireless charging of the phone itself.

Technology that radiates energy throughout the room to charge a phone. No thanks...

Don't worry, it won't be anything like the reports of overhead power lines causing cancer..... maybe....
I don't trust this wireless power beaming tech either because of this reason and no one will know for several years if it does cause serious health risks.

 

[johngordon]

Radiant energy falls off exponentially, unless its focused coherently like a laser. But then its not space-filling. You don't see the amperage draw of their large [15 foot range] transmitter and a graph with amps delivered vs. range front and center in Energous marketing.

Its analogous to heating your coffee fifteen feet from the microwave, in every direction.

Can a transmitter that powerful be built? Yes. Do I want to pay that electric bill? No.

The small transmitter is where efficiency becomes practical because its designed to work within a few millimeters.

Puck or matt charging is not exciting by its-self. But a phone immune to water, grit and lint, with nothing mechanical to wear out or break could be appealing.

I certainly wouldn't expect wireless charging to be as efficient as plugged in, especially with this possibility. But my use case is pretty specific, ie I typically have my phone within reach of an evening watching tv. Gets used to a greater or lesser degree for things like checking sports / looking stuff up on IMBD / FB kind of stuff. By the end of the day the battery might be low, and sometimes runs out. So with this, so long as it could keep the phone with enough charge til the very end of the day with heavy use, then that would be a big plus. I'd then just charge it as normal on a dock over night.
[doublepost=1480501526][/doublepost]

I used to feel the same way about Wireless charging, however ever since I have been using it on my Note 7 I really do find it very useful.

I have a wireless charger for the car and for home and hard to explain really but it just adds so a lot to the user experience.

The car charger is my favorite, it prompted me to install Bluetooth to the van and now it is a cable free (I have the power cable for the dock very well hidden) and very elegant looking.

Its funny because I had been very upset at Apple for dumping the headphone jack, but I have ended up not using it in my vehicle after all.

I think wireless charging in a car is pretty useful as its obviously less fiddly and so safer just to place a phone on a mat. But honestly, in the house, when I pop the phone on a dock each night, I don't really see much additional benefit in putting it on a mat, rather than on a dock.
[doublepost=1480501619][/doublepost]

The benefit is that you can listen to music while it charges because of the stupid decision to make the headphone jack also the charging jack.

Fair enough - I tend to charge mine overnight, and it usually lasts the day.
[doublepost=1480501759][/doublepost]

• Won't cause wear and tear on the Lightning port
• Won't cause wear and tear on the cable
• Can sit in a (charging) dock while portrait or landscape while still charging
• Can use headphones and charge at the same time
• Some cars now have charging mats built into the coin tray, so you can just drop your phone into the tray
• Reduced cable mess
• Possibility of eventually removing all "holes" from the phone (granted, many will see these as a negative):
  • Wireless charging
  • Wi-Fi sync
  • Bluetooth/Airplay audio and video
  • AirDrop file transfer
  • Apple SIM

In a scenario which involves placing the phone on a dock each night with even the slightest bit of care, none of these things are an issue. As above, the car is a specific example where I would see the most benefit.

 

[michaelsviews]

Apple is getting more and more behind the times. Always playing catchup, or claiming they did it better. Latest round of MBP's is proof, 3 years and this is all you've got. WTF!? Lets see let's take the schematics for the previous MBP load them in the CAD system and redesign / shrink things down. Hmmm battery life is going to take a hit and no glowing Apple logo, now we'll put in a touchbar instead of a touch screen. But Phil Schiller said it's what YOU NEED and want. Apples seriously putting out over priced pieces of aluminum. Just reimbursing people for a hinge that they neglected to take the proper initiative on. WTF Apple? Used to be a great company. Tim Cook, Jony Ive, Phil Schiller there's the door, bring in some fresh innovative ideas and younger talent cause your killing Apple.

 

[johngordon]

If you don't see the benefit then you've never used one.

So what benefits would I see if, at the end of the day, I put my phone on a mat on my desk instead of putting my phone on a dock on my desk?

 

[Jsameds]

I am sure this joke company will keep the 3 years consecutive iPhone 6 form then add a back glass, so it will named iPhone 8. The invitation will be sending out as MAKE THINNER GREAT AGAIN lol

Sigh.

Why are you even here?

EDIT: Just looked at your post history. Troll account. Reported.

 

[Rob_2811]

The port is not user accessible, as I stated. Therefore it's effectively portless as far as the consumer is concerned.

How is wifi sync not the same as backing up my iPhone? That's exactly what it does.

The Apple Watch already does everything via wireless -- plenty of developers supporting that.

They won't remove the ability to connect a wire to the iPhone, just an invasive port. Apple has already introduced a sealed SmartConnector capable of the same essential support offered via Lightning now.

The Lightning buds can't be used on anything but newer iOS devices, so they aren't for everybody. The 3.5mm adapter is there for other uses a customer may face as part of the transition. It's specious to suggest that the inclusion is there because nobody would buy the iPhone 7 without them. And you have presented absolutely zero data to back up your claims.

And I certainly never stated anything about an iPad with no ports. There's no reason to remove them from the iPad as yet because it doesn't need to be sealed in such a way as a mobile phone can benefit. And the Retina MB seems to be selling quite well with one port, as a mostly wireless device. It's not that hard to imagine removing that port at a certain point in the future as well.

The Watch has a port for diagnostic purposes, whether or not that is accessible to the consumer is irrelevant. Consumers aren't likely to be running diagnostics anyway are they?

Sync and Backup are absolutely not the same thing.

Why bother obsoleting every lightning charging solution/accessory and then replacing it with a smart connector. That would be utterly pointless.

I haven't said has said nobody would've bought the iPhone 7, there will always be the lunatic fringe who will gobble up any old junk that Apple put out, but without the ability to plug in wired headphones of any kind there will definitely to be lots of people that go elsewhere, to think otherwise is throughly deluded. No, nobody can provide data to back this up because the situation hasn't even happened!

The lightning EarPods are compatible with any iOS device with a lightning port, so that is any iPhone 5 or later and iPad 4 and later, not many people using devices older than that. In any case al l of those devices,other than the iPhone 7/7plus, have a 3.5 mm audio jack so it is completely moot point.

On you point about the MacBook, yes some people are using primarily wireless solutions but many are just using a myriad of dongles. Got any data to back up your spurious point about wireless and the Macbook?

Ultimately for all the moving of the goalposts you are yet to explain how people will be able to troubleshoot a device with no ports (software restore is the first thing support will tell you to do for non hardware faults) or how developers will efficiently be able to use a device (be that an iPad or iPhone) with no ports.

 

[Kameha]

Sigh.

Why are you even here?

EDIT: Just looked at your post history. Troll account. Reported.

Why I am here because I use this product I pay for, I express my opinion over the product. It like you go to a restaurant, you express over your food, good, great, or not that good...

 

[Jsameds]

Why I am here because I use this product I pay for, I express my opinion over the product. It like you go to a restaurant, you express over your food, good, great, or not that good...

Lol don't lie, you don't have an iPhone 7.

 

[Moorepheus]

these types of comments make me laugh..... because the shell of a phone doesn't change it means it's the same phone? Guess kinda like the Porsche 911.... that didn't change for years and years.... guess they just kept putting the same car out year after year... improvements be damned it's still the same car..... LoL what a joke.
[doublepost=1480469754][/doublepost]
If your grand kids are throwing iPads maybe you need to teach them to be more respectful. I for one liked the design of the 4/4s and found it was just as durable as any other iPhone design... .but alas I don't throw my things around like your grand kids.

First, I can tell you have never had kids. Second, my grandkids are 9 months (she doesn't throw it) 22 months (he does...lol) old, and I meant iPod, not iPad. Let me know when you have grandkids that do everything you as a grand parent or even a parent do at that age....lol. How quickly we forget when we were just kids how many times we rebelled against any authority figure in our lives, then to expect a 22 month old to understand things like that, well, you get the point, I hope.

 

[tremlock]

It's been a rumor, but you have to understand, technology has to be researched, developed, implemented and then allowed to evolve. For example, it was rumored approximately five/six years ago, Tesla was working on a autonomous vehicle. Just because it's "Rumored", doesn't justify the technology will or will not debut. Likely due to the amount of testing taken into consideration.

And knowing how Apple is, they may not be the first to introduce every feature with technology, but they likely will introduce some crafty feature they do differently (Or better) than the other competitors.

you just proved my exact point. Thank you. We can say it's going to be featured in next years phone forever, and eventually we will be correct.

 

[Kameha]

Lol don't lie, you don't have an iPhone 7.

No, I don't, I don't get pay to lie, I don't have an iPhone 7 (iPhone is the same form of iPhone 6, I don't like the stick out camera, and the ugly antenna) because I am still using my iPhone 4, and my 17' MBP. I am an Apple products user, I am not fanatic fan...

 

[Roobun]

Does this mean that soon we'll start seeing iPhones without any ports? It will all be wi-fi because they have "Courage"

on a serious note, it's about time

 

[JCarmona]

The innovation is what Samsung has done for at least 2 generations....

It seems that my next smartphone is going to be an Android

 

[Rafterman]

Prepare for "sold out in 30 seconds, wait for two months" kind of delays in shipping.

 

[Seppentoni]

Lol. And they will get rid of the lightning port altogether And the charging station will have to be bought seperately… without cable. You have to buy the cable separately as well Damn, Apple should hire me.

 

[Mac 128]

The Watch has a port for diagnostic purposes, whether or not that is accessible to the consumer is irrelevant. Consumers aren't likely to be running diagnostics anyway are they?

Sync and Backup are absolutely not the same thing.

Why bother obsoleting every lightning charging solution/accessory and then replacing it with a smart connector. That would be utterly pointless.

I haven't said has said nobody would've bought the iPhone 7, there will always be the lunatic fringe who will gobble up any old junk that Apple put out, but without the ability to plug in wired headphones of any kind there will definitely to be lots of people that go elsewhere, to think otherwise is throughly deluded. No, nobody can provide data to back this up because the situation hasn't even happened!

The lightning EarPods are compatible with any iOS device with a lightning port, so that is any iPhone 5 or later and iPad 4 and later, not many people using devices older than that. In any case al l of those devices,other than the iPhone 7/7plus, have a 3.5 mm audio jack so it is completely moot point.

On you point about the MacBook, yes some people are using primarily wireless solutions but many are just using a myriad of dongles. Got any data to back up your spurious point about wireless and the Macbook?

Ultimately for all the moving of the goalposts you are yet to explain how people will be able to troubleshoot a device with no ports (software restore is the first thing support will tell you to do for non hardware faults) or how developers will efficiently be able to use a device (be that an iPad or iPhone) with no ports.

But your point is that people need a port to plug in and backup their iPhone, whether the AppleWatch has a port or not is irrelevant if the customer can't use it, as you suggest is necessary. So for all practical purposes the AppleWatch is portless as far as the customer -- and your point -- are concerned.

Sync and backup are indeed different, but if you're going to debate these points you really should read up on them. Wifi sync will backup to the Mac as part of its sync functions. So yes it is performing the exact same function whether it's called that or not.

Do you even read what I write? I specifically stated they would not remove the ability to use wired devices but change from Lightning to something sealed like a SmartConnector or the inductive charging puck on the AppleWatch. I'm asking for data on your various other baseless claims for masses of customers not buying the iPhone because it doesn't have a headphone jack.

The Lightning EarBuds not being compatible with a Mac or PC, or anything buy an iOS device is NOT moot. Anybody who needs to use the EarPods with anything else, most likely will chose the adapter.

And why am I concerned with someone buying a rMB and using it innificciently? If someone wants to spend that kind of money and plug a bunch of dongles into one port, that's their problem. What does that have to do with the iPad? The same people can plug all the dongles they want into an iPad, which I've already stated won't likely lose its Lightning port for a long while as there's no need to -- heck once the iPhone drops ports altogether, the iPad might actually get USB-C ports as the Mac and iPad converge.

Talk about moving the goalposts ... Yours are all over the place. Do developers currently use the so-called "diagnostic ports" on the Apple Watch? No. Yet somehow they devlop just fine with no effective ports. As for trouble shooting, when Apple removes the ports, as they have effectively done on the Watch, they will have a new method to troubleshoot which doesn't need to be plugged into anything, just as the Watch doesn't, a point you conveniently continue to ignore. And if that isn't enough, there's the possibility that a SmartConnector port would provide this interface.

I can already backup to my Mac wirelessly, and restore from iCloud, which is why I haven't needed to plug in my iPhone to my Mac for years. The last time I took my iPhone into an Apple Store, they ran all of their diagnostics wirelessly! There is clearly a future here that doesn't require the Lightning port, whether you're ready to accept it or not.

 

[keithjfuller]

So what benefits would I see if, at the end of the day, I put my phone on a mat on my desk instead of putting my phone on a dock on my desk?

the ease of it is amazing. you will be annoyed by charging cables after you've had the wireless charging mat. you also don't have to worry about those stupid lightn$ng cords breaking.