Foxconn Testing Wireless Charging Modules for iPhone 8

[H2SO4]

I saw a programm the other day where researchers in the UK had managed to make a drone work without, (yes, that = zero), batteries. It must have flown a couple of metres from the ‘charging pad’.
I wonder if they are further ahead than Apple, or what each is doing that may or may not infringe on patents..

 

[BvizioN]

I'm saying it now, and I'll come back to this post in September 2017. People are going to be equally disappointed with the new iPhone as they were with the new MacBooks. People are already calling it the "10th anniversary", iPhone 8, biggest iPhone redesign. It's okay for a rumors page to give out those names for the sake of rumors. What is not okay, is for people to fully believe those rumors, then get angry because they were disappointed of something that they thought was going to happen and never did. What if they go with the same iPhone 7 design and simply call it 7S? Try to take the "10th anniversary" out of people's mind then... no, they'll be too busy dooming Apple and claiming what Steve Jobs would have done as if Steve used to discuss design ideas with them personally.

If you have been following forums in the last few years then you would have noticed that almost everything rumored have come true. To the very little details. And honestly, not sure what anyone was expecting on the new MacBok Pros (except for the price jump) Everything rumored about it, at least on the design aspect did come true. As for people being disappointed? What e prediction!! There will always be people disappointed about one thing or another, no matter what.

 

[jdelaune]

Better be AirFuel. RF wireless tech just isn't there yet for mobile phones. I could see it working in the watch.

Resonant is a better wireless technology than the Qi many smartphone manufacturers use today. One mat could charge your iPhone, Watch & AirPods at a fast rate. RF would only be a trickle and Qi is currently one-to-one.

 

[cicuz]

holy ****

 

[jdelaune]

A battery pack and a backpack? Are you serious? This is your... wait, nope you're pulling my leg. I'm sorry. I must reject your niche example. It's not niche enough. That scenario is exactly why Apple would offer wireless charging of any kind. The battery pack and backpack scenario. Yup, that'll move some product.

Apologies for the snark. The scenario is just...

You know they already exist right?

 

[emm386]

So IF the iPhone learns wireless charging, will Apple remove the Lightning Port?

I swear they will! And the iPhone will not just use any of the already existing reputable wireless charging standards but their own proprietary norm.

It will be "freely" available to licensed third-party suppliers at a license fee reasonable enough to make sure Apple can generate its revenue even at a decreased iPhone sale.

And shareholders will love it.

 

[eebrown]

So IF the iPhone learns wireless charging, will Apple remove the Lightning Port?

I swear they will! And the iPhone will not just use any of the already existing reputable wireless charging standards but their own proprietary norm.

It will be "freely" available to licensed third-party suppliers at a license fee reasonable enough to make sure Apple can generate its revenue even at a decreased iPhone sale.

And shareholders will love it.

I would assume it would have wireless and wired charging, I can't see Apple selling a product that only has wireless charging, but assuming they did then what would come with the phone a charging mat of some type. Shurly they would not sell a product that before you could use it you would need to go out and buy the devise to charge it. Apple may be greedy but they certainly are not stupid, I can see some of these rumors about the next iPhone being implemented over the next couple of new releases not all at once. The wireless I think will take time to implement.

 

[2010mini]

Friend is a VP there. You're not quite on with these comments.

Care to elaborate more?

 

[mazz0]

AAaaagh, stop considering the bigger screen size the premium model

 

[bowlen]

The next iPhone won't be a massive update. It will be the one after that. Apple won't upset the apple cart by changing the life-cycle.

 

[ValO]

Prepare to be disappointed, I have always read these kind of rumours about the next iPhone , and they are always off by a year or so. So next year...
Perhaps a 7s and 7s plus with the same design , a new colour with updated internals , some kind of wireless charging by a charging matt just like the competition and higher res LCD screen(power savings by 10nm soc) .
And an updated camera.
But perhaps an iPhone 7s pro will also be released with an updated but similar design(smaller bezels, curved screen???) with an even better camera, oled display, more memory, better soc than the regular 7s and 7 s plus. But with a 150 us higher price tag and very limited availability.

The year after , in 2018, the iPhone 8 will have a lot of design and technical similarities with the 7s pro.

So don' t expect the regular 2017 iPhone to be revolutionary. The 2017 pro model will be a very high priced showcase and allow apple and its suppliers to test and improve yields of the new tech before implementing it in the regular new iPhone the next year.
Just look at the new/next xioami , high end, very high priced, very limited in availability , because of some non mainstream (screen) tech.

 

[Sefstah]

And that's why Apple is not going to switch to USB-C on its iOS platform. eventually, all Lightning connectors will simply go away as device gain wireless charging, like the Apple TV Remote, Magic peripherals, and Apple Pen. This may be why we didn't see a Lightning port on the new MBP.

I think your confusing the thunderbolt port with the lightning connector. Either way, it's ridiculous that you cant plug in your brand new $800 iPhone 7 into your brand new $2k Macbook Pro without spending more money on another adapter. Horrible move Apple

 

[anthorumor]

And the beauty of this 'anniversary' iPhone will be covered in an Apple case with battery bump.

 

[eebrown]

I think your confusing the thunderbolt port with the lightning connector. Either way, it's ridiculous that you cant plug in your brand new $800 iPhone 7 into your brand new $2k Macbook Pro without spending more money on another adapter. Horrible move Apple

7+ 256 GB over 1k now without Apple care. I can't image what the next one with all the rumored "new" innovation and features will cost. This is the first year I put off buying the new phone, partly because of price and partly because my opinion the phones have gotten to the point where a bump in speed and camera features are not a good enough reason. I think I now will be on a 2-3 year cycle for upgrading.

 

[Sharewaredemon]

There's good and bad to that. We don't want to be charging our phones all the time. Batteries only last so many cycles. If you're charging a lot when the phone doesn't need it (say when it's at 80%) then you're using up those cycles when it's not needed and will kill battery life in the long run.

I remember a point in the last 5 years where Apple said their new at the time laptop batteries "distribute load" or whatever so that what you are talking about is no longer an issue. I'm not sure if there have been any real world tests to corroborate that, and I'm not sure if the hand held iOS devices have this same battery load distributing tech in them.

 

[Moorepheus]

I remember when APPLE used to be first to the table with these type of things. Now, they are lagging way behind. I guess it takes COURAGE to FOLLOW instead of LEAD.

 

[69Mustang]

Your posts usually aren't much for constructive discussion.

The dense comment really hit home.

Ah, good ol' ad hominem. The last resort of a defenseless argument.

Wireless charging from a battery pack in a backpack is an unrealistic example. If you have a battery pack it can be simply worn on the phone as a case or connected when needed. What would be the advantage of a wireless charger in that scenario? The most obvious problem with your solution is the electrical outlet needed to power the wireless charger. It just doesn't make sense. No matter the tech used, the wireless charger is going to act as a base station to charge multiple devices. I'd be willing to bet good money any charger that gets developed will be a stand alone unit plugged into an electrical outlet. The range will be far greater that 12-24 inches. Which gets us back to your original assertion and my original rebuttal. That distance of wireless charging is useless. You'd literally have to stand near the darn charger for it to be effective.

You know they already exist right?

Yes, yes I do. I do know that portable wireless Qi battery packs exist. You entered a discussion late and missed the entire context of the conversation.

 

[TimothyBe]

It makes sense..
iphone first.. with new Airport extremes..
They already ditched MagSafe connector from the new MacBooks ..
wireless charging is way better then USB-C with all the cable accidents..
If the tech is ready then:
Sep 2017 iphone wireless only on plus and new airport extremes
March 2018 iPads
November 2018 MacBooks

 

[honglong1976]

I never understood why they couldn't just use an inductive charger/dock that the phone sits in and charges. Electronic toothbrushes have an inductive charger/dock. It's better than a mat and is always in the right position when charging.

It also means the phone can be sealed and more water resistant because there is one less port.

My money is on the next iPhone being chargeable using the method above. There will be no ports at all and it will be sealed completely with a speaker design like the Apple Watch Series 2.

Never understood why they never mag safe'd the iPhone charger port! (apart from the obvious loss of cable sales).

 

[th-gates9345]

THIS is real wireless charging, and this is why Apple waited so long to implement a far more convenient solution, rather than just jump on the band wagon by including a "wireless" mat that you lay your phone on, which is connected by... a wire.

More radiation for my body. Welcome cancer.

 

[albebaubles]

They'll add wireless charging and no more lightning port then.

Not until they get wireless debugging working in Xcode.

 

[Mac 128]

I would assume it would have wireless and wired charging, I can't see Apple selling a product that only has wireless charging, but assuming they did then what would come with the phone a charging mat of some type. Shurly they would not sell a product that before you could use it you would need to go out and buy the devise to charge it. Apple may be greedy but they certainly are not stupid, I can see some of these rumors about the next iPhone being implemented over the next couple of new releases not all at once. The wireless I think will take time to implement.

Wireless won't be the only way to charge it. But that doesn't mean they need to keep Lightning or switch to USB-C. At a minimum they will offer an alternate like the SmartConnectors on the iPad Pro. That's enough to achieve the same functionality of the current USB 2 interface that the iPhone currently uses. We're due for a faster WiFi bump here in the next year as well, so most data transfer will be faster than the current connections are now as well.

So most will opt for wireless for day to day charging and backups, and only need to connect a hard wired connector in rare occasions. So Lightning gets traded for SmartConnectors, and there will be simple adapters for existing Lightning equipment, and even a 3.5mm SC adapter. Apple might even switch to a charging puck option like the Apple Watch uses, that snaps on the back of the phone.

 

[827538]

The problem with wireless charging is the EMF produced is pretty much guaranteed to screw with all sorts of electronics if it produces a field of any usable strength and distance in resonant mode. Think microwaves and baby monitors on steroids. It's a really cool idea but Wifi, cellular (especially 4G networks) and Bluetooth could all be affected.
I admit I don't know what frequencies these work at or if they are frequency modulated but something producing a strong EMF could interfere with the electronics in just about anything. I'll be interested to see how they overcome these problems.

 

[kyykesko]

I just hope they leave the lightning port - or better yet switch to USB-C there too. No ports makes my iRig a sad panda. Plus I'm not going to buy 4+ charging mats just to be able to use a phone. And please, don't give me any of that crap about Apple's "all-day battery". They will make it even thinner and we all know the current battery in 6Plus can barely hang on half a day on moderately heavy use. 7Plus didn't fare any better. The only one that has survived any reasonable amount in my use so far has been the SE and that's probably because I didn't bother to get a data plan for it. I only use it for calls and some photos (and transfer those over WiFi) so it survives ~3 days on a charge.

 

[smacrumon]

Is charging really a cumbersome process that needs the focus of Apple's attention?

"exploring extended range wireless"

"a wireless charging technology that uses radio waves to charge devices up to 15 feet away, on wireless charging technology"​

Charge your phone, charge your body at the same time.

Negative. No thanks.