Please Apple in your development wear a regular Watch not just your own Apple Watch.
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Apple Researching Wireless Charging Ecosystem for MacBook, iPad, iPhone, and Apple Watch
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I'm missing something...is plugging in a cable to charge a device really a worthy problem solve with this level of required engineering?
This seems to me like adding cost, complexity, and risk for relatively little benefit...like adding Wi-Fi to my toaster or Bluetooth to my blood pressure monitor, and then having to connect so it can automatically download the software patches needed to close security breaches that it opened.
Dr. Ian Malcolm:
"Yeah, but your scientists were so preoccupied with whether or not they could, they didn't stop to think if they should."
I'm trying to imagine selling my 2023 MacBook in 2026 and having all of the eBay idiots ask me whether the 'charging power' (not just the battery life) is still at 100%.
Sorry...just cranky today.
This seems to me like adding cost, complexity, and risk for relatively little benefit...like adding Wi-Fi to my toaster or Bluetooth to my blood pressure monitor, and then having to connect so it can automatically download the software patches needed to close security breaches that it opened.
Dr. Ian Malcolm:
"Yeah, but your scientists were so preoccupied with whether or not they could, they didn't stop to think if they should."
I'm trying to imagine selling my 2023 MacBook in 2026 and having all of the eBay idiots ask me whether the 'charging power' (not just the battery life) is still at 100%.
Sorry...just cranky today.
Won't work with aluminum bodies. Would need to change it to plastic or glass or something non metal.
Its a patent , what do you mean with "Seriously Apple .. get the basics working better" .... Patents filings are not product announcements...
sure thing. i'd love usb-c on the iphone, i think it's time for lightning to go away.
now let's steer you back to the conversation at hand, which is about wireless charging. did you...miss that point in the original post....??????????????????????????????????????????????????????????
At least you can still access the glorious Touch Bar.Great, now I wont be able to use my laptop whilst I charge my watch and phone because they are placed where my palms need to be.
It's not stupid, it's just greed. They make more money with the lightening cable.
Nikola Tesla tried to create a wireless power system.
More recently, a startup company called Pi (now Spansive) is developing short range contactless charging:
Pi Charging rebrands as Spansive, opens up to partners but drops plans for its own padless wireless charger | TechCrunch
Pi Charging is changing course and changing names. It’ll now be known as Spansive. As Pi, the company had been working on a cone-shaped wireless charger
techcrunch.com
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This is what confuses me as well. We saw demonstrations of power being transmitted across a few feet of air years ago - whatever happened to that? What is all this "wireless charging" nonsense where everything has to physically touch.
The only practical difference between this and the old MagSafe charging is that the MagSafe charging spots were visible, and now they're invisible, which seems more like a step back instead of a step forward.
What I’ve wanted more than anything was for the MacBooks to have it themselves. Just sit it down on the desk and it starts receiving charge. The Air and 12” MacBooks could have made use of it.
Apple is researching the integration of multiple inductive charging coils into MacBooks and iPads to use them as wireless chargers for other devices, according to a patent filed by Apple.
The patent, spotted by Patently Apple, is titled "Inductive charging between electronic devices" and was awarded by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.
Apple has been researching device-to-device inductive charging technology since March 2016, when the now-granted patents around it were first filed. It is notable that Apple seems to be particularly interested in this area, filing for multiple patents relating to the technology, and it has now applied for 40 new claims.
This patent highlights how all mobile Apple devices, including Apple Watches, iPhones, iPads, and MacBooks, could use an ecosystem of wireless charging together. Images included in the patent present a significant number of different coil placements for a range of portable Apple devices to facilitate this system.
Apple presents a wide variety of possible implementations for device-to-device wireless charging. For example, the lid of a MacBook could contain a series of upward-facing inductive coils, allowing devices to charge by being rested on top of it. Coils could also be placed on the palm rests and trackpad of a MacBook.
Crucially, the wireless charging system is two-way, with devices able to both receive and transmit power via inductive coils, allowing users to choose which device is charged. It may also be determined automatically by software based on which device has a greater amount of charge.
Apple's proposed strategy seems to be to incorporate carefully-positioned inductive charging coils on every mobile Apple device. For example, the patent explains how coils could be placed along both the front and back of an iPad, allowing it to be wirelessly charged from one side while transmitting charge to another device on the other side. The proposed system is heavily interchangeable as a result, with a huge number of device combinations and placements possible.
There is even the suggestion that a collection of Apple devices could be charged together from one power source. An image depicts an Apple Watch charging from an iPhone, the iPhone from an iPad, the iPad from a MacBook, and the MacBook from a power cable. Text accompanying the image states "only a single power cord or no power cords may be needed to charge one or more of a group of devices that include electrically communicative inductive coils."
Apple has also considered an assortment of software integrations for the device-to-device wireless charging system. When a smaller device is placed on the display of a larger device, such as an Apple Watch on the front of an iPad, the iPad's display could indicate its "alignment condition" and charge percentage.
Another more inventive software integration proposes that, if the screen of an iPad is obstructed by charging an iPhone on it, the iPad's UI could adjust to only display content on the unobstructed part of the screen. There are also provisions for scenarios in which the iPhone could be used to display the content that has been obstructed on the iPad's screen, such as a row of home screen apps.
The patent also repeatedly refers to a system of magnets that could be used to align devices to each other for charging, which seems to be strikingly similar to Apple's MagSafe system which premiered with the iPhone 12 lineup.
The patent implies that this magnetic alignment system could be used on any of its portable devices to support a better experience when charging wirelessly, and it would certainly make sense to expand MagSafe or a MagSafe-like system to more devices to support this ecosystem of device-to-device inductive charging. MagSafe is only available on the iPhone 12 and iPhone 12 Pro at present.
Should Apple integrate the proposed technology, it would create a unified system of wireless charging across all portable Apple devices. The device-to-device inductive charging system seems feasible and would help Apple to synthesize its otherwise fragmented range of charging methods, but it is not clear how Apple would address the inevitable thermal, penetration, or efficiency issues it would cause.
The arrival of MagSafe charging on the iPhone 12 demonstrates Apple's interest in wireless charging solutions, and the depth of the company's research shows how thoroughly such systems are being considered. In spite of this, patents can only serve as proof of what Apple is researching. They do not necessarily indicate what the company may implement and the contents of many patents never reach final consumer products.
Article Link: Apple Researching Wireless Charging Ecosystem for MacBook, iPad, iPhone, and Apple Watch
I think it’s also about having control over their own proprietary connector. There might even be security implications to putting all their devices only USB-C. We don’t know the full reasoning behind apples decision to stay with lightning and they have reason to be hesitant, for if they ever did go all in on USB-C there would not be any going back to proprietary connectors without mass protest. This way they are finding their own proprietary replacement for lightning which seems to be looking like MagSafe
Say what you will about this being unsafe—at this point, it probably is, given they couldn’t get AirPower right—Apple has a tendency to patent things rather early in R&D. Wouldn’t be surprised to see this 5-10 years down the line, when new kinds of heat management tech comes out. (Per usual, this tech would probably be used by other companies first, but Apple will get it just right.) Being able to charge my iPhone with MagSafe by just putting it on one of my MBP palm rests would be pretty cool. (Or even moreso, my Watch, since it won’t so obnoxiously cover one of my palm rests…😂)
Hey, maybe it’ll never come to fruition, they also have SO many patents on things that have never materialized.
Hey, maybe it’ll never come to fruition, they also have SO many patents on things that have never materialized.
Like the good old days... I remember creases disappearing, and red burns on my thighs. Yippee. Now, palms?
But it's a creative way to use the 'real estate', but it's too bad they cancelled that gigantic MacBook years ago. It had larger 'landscape' to charge things with. How big was it? 18"?
so AirPower didn't make it to market, and now we're going to use a MacBook?
While efficiency of wireless has gotten better, this does not make sense for an environmental focussed (read: eliminate power bricks) company ... improve efficiency to 98% first and we're talking ... but, it's a patent, so maybe in 20 years?
While efficiency of wireless has gotten better, this does not make sense for an environmental focussed (read: eliminate power bricks) company ... improve efficiency to 98% first and we're talking ... but, it's a patent, so maybe in 20 years?
It's actually a changing magnetic field that transfers the energy from the charger to the device, not an electric field - so the impact on the human body would be comparable to being near a moving magnet. This will lead to current flow through the body, but research of exposure to magnetic fields of this type of magnitude hasn't indicated any health issues. Research into prolonged exposure to much stronger magnetic fields (such as those emanating from grid power lines) has suggested some possible links to health issues (including possible links with leukaemia), but even then results seem to be inconclusive, so it's very important to understand the low magnitudes at play here.
But to answer your question - yes, any changing magnetic field (as generated by a wireless charger or even the wiring your home) will cause a miniscule current to flow through your body - it's something that's occurring naturally all the time.
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Not exactly a "green" initiative, is it. Meanwhile, we're moving toward devices that go all day on a full charge and easily charge in a small portion of the overnight hours. So what "problem", exactly, is Apple trying to solve? This seems like technology simply for its own sake. Dear Apple: Are you running out of real problems to solve? I'm sure anyone of us here on MR could come up with a list, if you need help. iCloud, Siri, arbitrary NFC limitations, etc., etc. - it's a considerable list, to be sure. JMHO.
He didn't miss the point. Apple are doing this in part because they're working on erasing ports entirely, which remains a bad idea, and in part to "unify" charging processes, which could be achieved by putting a standard connector on all devices.
It was a relevant observation.