Apple's wireless 'vision'

[satchmo]

When introducing the AirPods, Phil Schiller talks about Apple doing the difficult task of making wireless better. He says it makes no sense to tether us to these mobile devices.

And yet none of Apple's iOS devices have wireless charging capabilities out of the box. Android phones have had this for years.

Is this technology inherently bad or difficult to implement? Or is it simply a feature Apple will use to entice us to upgrade to in the iPhone 7s?

 

[lchlch]

When introducing the AirPods, Phil Schiller talks about Apple doing the difficult task of making wireless better. He says it makes no sense to tether us to these mobile devices.

And yet none of Apple's iOS devices have wireless charging capabilities out of the box. Android phones have had this for years.

Is this technology inherently bad or difficult to implement? Or is it simply a feature Apple will use to entice us to upgrade to in the iPhone 7s?

The problem with wireless charging is that it doesn't work through aluminum yet.

 

[Shirasaki]

Wireless is just another method of transmitting energy, basically.
And current wireless charging is not true wireless charging.
Apple, as a late mover, has some advantages to implement a feature in a better way. Maybe next version of iPhone we can use the device to listen to music, and charge at the same time without using adapter or Bluetooth.

 

[Kjung7]

I have a feeling the next iPhone will be ceramic. I'd think wireless charging would work through ceramic. The new Apple watch was released in ceramic so they're probably starting out ceramic production on a small scale to see how the yields are. Now the only issue is the price, but I have a feeling it will decrease as Apple ramps up and tools up for large scale ceramic production.

 

[seinman]

I'm getting sick and tired of people calling Android's wireless charing "wireless." You have to put the phone in a specific place, where it's held with magnetic force, to an object that has a wire coming out of it. How is that any different than MagSafe? It's a specific place (charging port) held magnetically (hence MAGsafe) with a wire coming out of it. Wake me up when there's TRUE "wireless" charging: Obviously there will need to be some sort of device plugged into the outlet, but unless I can put my phone anywhere within a few feet of it without any part of the phone touching any part of the charger, it isn't really wireless, is it?