Here I was all worried that I'd missed an interesting discussion on charging technology... Turns out I missed a discussion that quickly strayed into fear of pico watts, because opinion means more than science these days, and then left the rails completely when that argument was supported with a rant that boils down to "yeah, but fanboys, amirite?".
*sigh*
It seems the Mean Time to Nonsense in these threads is rapidly approaching zero...
The only post of value here so far has been this:
While I’ll welcome truly wireless charging when it comes, whom ever it comes from. Reading this patent could just as easily be interpreted as the tech used in the upcoming AirPower charging mat.
It’s a system that schedules and diverts priority of power via a wireless coil. It could possibly relate to over-air charging but it also sounds almost exactly like what Apple aims to achieve with AirPower.
Application 20170373537 makes specific mention of a coil in claim 1, which strongly suggests this is a magnetic mode, inductive charger (Energous' FCC filings are full of E-field measurements suggesting it's using electric mode antennas). The idea being patented is a means of communicating over the wireless power link by pulsing current to the coil while power transmission is disabled.
Application 20170373522 covers its bases by saying it applies to near field, far field
and wired charging in the spec, but only specifically has claims for wired connections and coupling through coils (again, inductive.) The idea being patented is prioritization of devices.
This is obviously supporting tech for Apple's upcoming multi-device charging mat. The patents themselves are as tech agnostic as they can manage (as you'd expect in a patent, you don't want to limit it's applicability) but the language strongly suggests wireless charging by induction.
While the patents don't confirm anything on their own, rumors have floated
since 2015 that Energous has been
working with Apple on a truly wireless charging solution for future mobile devices, so they may offer an idea of what users can expect, should the rumors prove accurate.
[...]
the power scheduling systems described above may yet prove to be the link to Energous' wire-free solutions.
MacRumors, you really need to stop with the Energous innuendos. There is absolutely no indication of a link between Apple and Energous. There is no indication that Energous has a viable technology. There is no suggestion that these patents apply to anything but the Qi chargers that Apple has publicly endorsed.
I get that you're not really doing anything like journalism, but the fact that this one shady company keeps popping up in your articles like it's the next big thing is making me wonder whether there's any commitment at all to informing your readers.
There's always the chance that the FCC makes massive changes to their safety standards and allows it on the market, but it's much more likely that Energous is nothing more than a means for an unscrupulous CEO to bilk investors of $5m a year. Your reporting on it so far has completely ignored the failure of the technology, and instead focused on the promises of unicorns and rainbows. Bringing them up at every given opportunity despite Apple having publicly supported the open Qi standard, is bizarre.