4.7-Inch iPhone to Feature Wireless Charging Next Year

[From A Buick 8]

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.

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.

 

[ThisIsNotMe]

And Apple will finally phase out Lightning and go wireless charging on consumer electronics products and USB-C on all computing products.

 

[Rob_2811]

0 ports.
No cable.
Just the iPhone.
Wireless everything.
TAKE MY MONEY.

No encrypted back ups, No sense in Apples stance on privacy..
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It will be completely wireless. Except for the wire the connects the wireless charger to the wall.

Not unless an option for fully encrypted back up to iCloud is introduced before then.

 

[AppleMad98004]

What I used to love about Apple was the simplicity of their product lineup. There were very few "models" of a product and differences were minor, such as storage space. This was especially true of the iPhone. Now, Apple is become Microsoft lite with too may variations. Is my iPhone LED, OLED, wirelessly charged, dual camera...? Tech geeks love to parse all these specs, but the average person's eyes glaze over when looking at the options.

The lack of clarity for their product line mimics the lack of focus in general. I wish they would have spent 1/10th of their time and money perfecting IOS and MacOS (or build a world class professional laptop) instead of chasing the elusive Apple car...

I understand what you are saying but this model only worked for the US centric view when Apple was small. Now they are larger than Microsoft. Now that Apple makes far more money overseas it must diversify. Think Mercedes. They only sold to rich Europe and North America with $100K cars. Now they are global. They have cars that range from $30K to $300K.... Apple needs to do the same.

 

[Val-kyrie]

So I am interested in how Apple handles several things:
1. How the wireless charging will be implemented (puck or proximity);
2. Whether this charging method will be reliable;
3. Whether this method of charging will adversely affect its internal components or the charge capacity and/or capability of the iPhone battery;
4. Whether we will still be able to connect the iPhone to a Mac with a wire;
5. Whether this wireless charging method will create any wireless interference.
6. How Apple will implement troubleshooting a malfunctioning device if it has no buttons and refuses to boot.

I admittedly don't know much about the current state of wireless charging, but I would find it helpful if someone with more knowledge could share.

 

[Rob_2811]

So I am interested in how Apple handles several things:
1. How the wireless charging will be implemented (puck or proximity);
2. Whether this charging method will be reliable;
3. Whether this method of charging will adversely affect its internal components or the charge capacity and/or capability of the iPhone battery;
4. Whether we will still be able to connect the iPhone to a Mac with a wire;
5. Whether this wireless charging method will create any wireless interference.
6. How Apple will implement troubleshooting a malfunctioning device if it has no buttons and refuses to boot.

I admittedly don't know much about the current state of wireless charging, but I would find it helpful if someone with more knowledge could share.

almost certainly, yes.

 

[satchmo]

I upgrade twice a year

Upgrade to smartphones...my question is about the potential market from those who still have feature phones.

 

[Val-kyrie]

Yeah, different feature sets and options is NOT fragmentation. You're misusing that word.

I think the word the poster was looking for is "segmentation."

 

[bigjnyc]

well duh! Apple wants to sell as many $59.99 wireless charging pads as possible.

 

[agsystems]

Well, I like the idea of the smaller model getting a high-end feature that the other model doesn't have, making them more like equals rather than the bigger screen being treated as the superior device, but wouldn't it be nicer for users if they could just choose the screen size that suits them, without having to compromise on features?

you are making too much sense - Apple knows that segmenting the market brings the bigger profit so that's what they will do
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well duh! Apple wants to sell as many $59.99 wireless charging pads as possible.

no surprise here, Samsung fast wireless charging pads are sold separately as well

 

[Rob_2811]

And Apple will finally phase out Lightning and go wireless charging on consumer electronics products and USB-C on all computing products.

Oh dear, do people think before they post stuff like this?

Reasons why that would be ridiculous...

There would be no way to transfer media to/from a device

Its would force people to use wireless headphones.

It would force people to use wireless charging, that however well implemented will almost certainly be less efficient than a wired connection and is much less convenient.

All of the lightning enable accessories on the market obsoleted, some of which would have no way of being replaced. Apple loses all of the licensing revenue from the MFI Program.

The port is required for diagnostic/development purposes.

There would be no way to perform an encrypted back up of your iPhone/iPad, unless there was an overhaul to allow this to work via iCloud, that makes a mockery of Apples stance on privacy.

Unless there were significant changes made to both iTunes and iCloud to allow user the same functionality as they have now it would significantly gimp the devices just for the sake of adding wireless charging.

 

[adammull]

So I am interested in how Apple handles several things:

6. How Apple will implement troubleshooting a malfunctioning device if it has no buttons and refuses to boot.

I admittedly don't know much about the current state of wireless charging, but I would find it helpful if someone with more knowledge could share.

Very much interested in this one.

 

[Marx55]

It's not really on the same scale. One short drive in any car will use more energy than your smartphone will in it's entire lifetime.

No if you consider all million phones around. All counts.

 

[jmgregory1]

I hated a lot about the iPods which also crossed over to the iPhone. I'll most likely never own an iPhone, I absolutely hate all of it's limitations.

The iPods, of which there were lots of options to choose from if you look at them from the start in 2001 through to 2007 when the iPhone was launched (the beginning of the end for the iPod), were for the most part leaders as far as ease of use and quality go. Sure, the original hard drive equipped iPod often suffered early death (mine lasted barely more than a year), but subsequent offerings improved significantly.

What other options were there that would have been considered better? Creative, Iomega, Zune (coming 5+ years after mp3 players hit the market), Sony - there wasn't much that could compete with Apple, as the numbers played out over the years. I remember people being mad about Apple's DRM stance, back when Napster started to take off, but given I was still buying cd's and storing them on iTunes on my Mac Pro or iMac, it was a non-issue for me.

Limitations of the iPhone? Are you talking about lack of changeable battery or storage? Or is it Apple's secure sandboxed OS? Maybe the latest removal of the headphone jack?

 

[Marx55]

Wasting a small amount of energy is insignificant compared to just about any other device out there.

Multiply by million phones. All counts.

 

[bladerunner2000]

The iPods, of which there were lots of options to choose from if you look at them from the start in 2001 through to 2007 when the iPhone was launched (the beginning of the end for the iPod), were for the most part leaders as far as ease of use and quality go. Sure, the original hard drive equipped iPod often suffered early death (mine lasted barely more than a year), but subsequent offerings improved significantly.

What other options were there that would have been considered better? Creative, Iomega, Zune (coming 5+ years after mp3 players hit the market), Sony - there wasn't much that could compete with Apple, as the numbers played out over the years. I remember people being mad about Apple's DRM stance, back when Napster started to take off, but given I was still buying cd's and storing them on iTunes on my Mac Pro or iMac, it was a non-issue for me.

Limitations of the iPhone? Are you talking about lack of changeable battery or storage? Or is it Apple's secure sandboxed OS? Maybe the latest removal of the headphone jack?

• Piss poor sound quality, Apple was and still is notorious for having some of the worst sound quality products on the market.
• Lack of 5 band equalizer to get sound to MY liking (I like a bit of extra treble)
• Horrendous battery life relative to the competition
• Forced use of iTunes. I hated this. And there was no way to copy/move MP3s back from the iPod. It should always be drag and drop MP3 files if you want.
• No removable battery
• Battery was really only good for about 400 charges until it started to crap out (which was so convenient because that'd last just over a year and just after your warranty expires)
• No gapless playback at the time

There were other things but those we're the ones that stood out.

Sony NW-HD5 and Cowon S9 were my go to players. Doesn't matter anymore since I've got an Android phone with PlayerPro that does everything incredibly well.

 

[farewelwilliams]

I'm out. what they continue to do wrong in software development (GUI??? Stability anyone?),
in lack of pros (there used to be a Mac Pro)
and customer support (amazon is way better now)

Again: good luck.

good luck finding one phone company that scores well on all three of those points.

 

[Col4bin]

I'm out. My Apple hype is done for. While I do believe that an all-glass phone does make sense. I'm just too frustrated with Apple right now to care anymore.

Good luck, I'm sure it will be nice. Let's just wait what they continue to do wrong in software development (GUI??? Stability anyone?), in lack of pros (there used to be a Mac Pro) and customer support (amazon is way better now, than Apple is, Apple has become frustrating with its computerized standard replies that do not make sense and with customer support that does not even comprehend what I'm saying and that is not for lack of language capabilities but of technical and customer-oriented understanding.)

Again: good luck.

Apple's become "Tim-ethied." Mindless bean counters worldwide rejoice!
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good luck finding one phone company that scores well on all three of those points.

In the past 2 years I have gone from iPhone 6 Plus > Nexus 6 > OnePlus 3 > iPhone 7 Plus. You are 100% correct. It's true what they say, the grass is always greener.

 

[jmgregory1]

Oh dear, do people think before they post stuff like this?

Reasons why that would be ridiculous...

There would be no way to transfer media to/from a device

Its would force people to use wireless headphones.

It would force people to use wireless charging, that however well implemented will almost certainly be less efficient than a wired connection and is much less convenient.

All of the lightning enable accessories on the market obsoleted, some of which would have no way of being replaced. Apple loses all of the licensing revenue from the MFI Program.

The port is required for diagnostic/development purposes.

There would be no way to perform an encrypted back up of your iPhone/iPad, unless there was an overhaul to allow this to work via iCloud, that makes a mockery of Apples stance on privacy.

Unless there were significant changes made to both iTunes and iCloud to allow user the same functionality as they have now it would significantly gimp the devices just for the sake of adding wireless charging.

Hmmm, media is already being transferred wirelessly to / from iPhones and iPads to computers. I don't hardly connect my iPhone or iPad to my rMBP directly, unless I'm trying to get some battery power from it while traveling.

Wireless headphones is where things are headed. I made the switch a couple of years ago and would never go back. As BT has improved (and will continue to improve further) it will accelerate the change from wired to wireless.

Much like BT headphones, wireless charging will continue to improve and I'm pretty sure Apple's not working on the same induction charging that other competitors are using.

Yep, just like with the switch from 30 pin to Lightning, there will be a bunch of stuff that needs to be updated to Airplay or BT or wifi, which is actually a huge benefit to both Apple and manufacturers using MFI technologies, as they have new things to take to the market.

The diagnostic port issue will likely be handled similarly to the Apple Watch. Some hidden connection or maybe a way to plug into the sim card port when needed.

Data sent to and from iCloud servers from the iPhone / iPad are encrypted - 128bit AES.

 

[ryanwarsaw]

Hopefully this will be long range wireless charging and not need a puck or dock.

Prepare to be disappointed in this brave new wireless world. I just want some Airpods.
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This is one of my issues with Apple at the moment. "Entry-level" and "high-end" should not be terms used to delineate a lineup based on whether you want a large or small screen.

A bunch of money or a bunch of money less. Do you understand it now?
[doublepost=1480446707][/doublepost]No ports at all wireless charging only via Siri. lol

 

[Max Portakabin]

Would be great if it was compatible with the Ikea charging pads. I can put the phone on the shelf and hide the cable and not worry about the dog chewing/urinating on/tripping over it.

 

[Aussi3]

Hey Apple how about you don't fragment it was already bad enough with the ois and then dual camera difference now oled

 

[frifra]

But is it thinner, and does it only have ports that you can't connect to anything without a multitude of (not included) adaptors?

Best part, you will have to connect it to a powerbank to use it, as they got rid of the battery alltogether. So no one is complaining anymore about not being able to exchange the battery.

 

[a.gomez]

what happened to there is no benefit to wireless charging? 2 of my co-workers have the iKea charging desk lamps - so always knew it was Apple BS. It is amazing to just place the phone down to charge.

 

[Chrjy]

This is one of my issues with Apple at the moment. "Entry-level" and "high-end" should not be terms used to delineate a lineup based on whether you want a large or small screen.

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!