Wireless charging won’t let me use my device at the same time. That’s a BIG no for me!
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Gurman: Apple Considered Removing Lightning Connector on iPhone X
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Wow. So many folks here need to calm down. A company like Apple considers all kinds of far fetched ideas every day. They have to in order to stay ahead of the competition even if the ideas are completely impractical today. Of course they're going to consider a phone without any ports/buttons. In fact, I'd be really worried about the future of Apple if they didn't consider ideas like that. I bet they were talking about removing the headphone jack years before they actually released a phone without one just like they probably considered removing the floppy disk drive many years before they actually did it.
This doesn't mean the next phone won't have a port or even an iPhone 5 years from now won't have one. It just means they're thinking about all the issues that would arise if they removed the port and if, one day, it's possible to address all the issues every one here is bringing up. Apple's not stupid. Of course they know they'd have to address things like charging in your car, how to handle external battery packs, etc.
Chill out people. Wireless charging is the future and all these issues folks are bringing up will eventually be addressed.
... and why are some folks here still plugging their iphones into their macs to back up to iTunes? This isn't 2007. You haven't had to do that to back up a phone in years. There're things called wifi and the cloud. Geez, I haven't even started iTunes in years.
This doesn't mean the next phone won't have a port or even an iPhone 5 years from now won't have one. It just means they're thinking about all the issues that would arise if they removed the port and if, one day, it's possible to address all the issues every one here is bringing up. Apple's not stupid. Of course they know they'd have to address things like charging in your car, how to handle external battery packs, etc.
Chill out people. Wireless charging is the future and all these issues folks are bringing up will eventually be addressed.
... and why are some folks here still plugging their iphones into their macs to back up to iTunes? This isn't 2007. You haven't had to do that to back up a phone in years. There're things called wifi and the cloud. Geez, I haven't even started iTunes in years.
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I think they'll wait until true wireless charging before they remove the Lightning port entirely. If the iPhone came with a little wireless charging block in the box that you plug into the wall and your phone just starts charging then I don't need a port. Though they will need a diagnostic port like the Apple Watch. Until then wireless charging is sometimes convenient and sometimes cumbersome. I still keep a Lightning cable on my nightstand—mostly for my iPad Pro—but also because if my iPhone X does actually get low on battery (very rare) I can keep using it with the cord plugged in. With the wireless pad it is very awkward to use/hold the iPhone and it slides off the sweet spot frequently. I've been saying for a long time that I think they'll eventually remove it but not for several more years until there is a better solution.
As for wireless solutions, I've got an iOttie suction cup wireless charging mount in my car that works absolutely perfectly. I was actually kinda surprised because I expected it to have problems but it has been rock solid since December. I pop my iPhone in there to keep it charged while streaming podcasts and music going to and from work. My nightstand has a little Anker charging pad that works well. I think I've also seen battery packs that have wireless chargers built in so I may pick up one of those at some point. It would have been doable for the iPhone X to have no Lightning port, but it would have been annoying for a lot of people and necessitated buying more hardware. I'm fine with that but a lot of people might not be so I think they were smart to wait. And at the very least if they don't wait for true wireless charging, the iPhone having supported Qi for several years will mean Qi will be all over the place by 2020.
As for wireless solutions, I've got an iOttie suction cup wireless charging mount in my car that works absolutely perfectly. I was actually kinda surprised because I expected it to have problems but it has been rock solid since December. I pop my iPhone in there to keep it charged while streaming podcasts and music going to and from work. My nightstand has a little Anker charging pad that works well. I think I've also seen battery packs that have wireless chargers built in so I may pick up one of those at some point. It would have been doable for the iPhone X to have no Lightning port, but it would have been annoying for a lot of people and necessitated buying more hardware. I'm fine with that but a lot of people might not be so I think they were smart to wait. And at the very least if they don't wait for true wireless charging, the iPhone having supported Qi for several years will mean Qi will be all over the place by 2020.
I have so many lightning cables lol. I have one in a room, living room, and cars, and at work. It would be a shame if I have to replace them with something else.
Where do you put your phone now while using CarPlay? Now imagine a $10 Qi pad or dongle there for the phone to connect to. Problem solved.
My 2011 Maxima is old enough that I can't use bluetooth for music. I connect the iPhone to a jack on the front of the stereo, and I use an Apple Watch for remote control. If they remove the jack, I'll buy an Android phone rather than replace or modify the car.
With the Airpods, Apple made it such that I did not miss the loss of the headphone jack one bit.
I would have liked to see what Apple would have done to make me not miss the removal of the lightning port as well.
I guess I will just have to wait a little longer to see this new world order which Apple seeks to usher in.
I would have liked to see what Apple would have done to make me not miss the removal of the lightning port as well.
I guess I will just have to wait a little longer to see this new world order which Apple seeks to usher in.
Mute switch, volume control buttons, power on button. Would not mind if they were gone. Maybe even the sound grill. The connector, would be the last one to go in my list.
How can you provide an adapter for an entirely wireless iPhone?
The only people that want to use their phone while it charges (aside from CarPlay) are people listening to music. They were all filtered out as Apple customers when Apple removed the headphone jack.
Everyone else is just using it while charging because their battery is low. (usually because they forgot to charge the phone when they had the chance)
AirPower has had challenges, because it ramps up or turns the power down in standby mode when it senses a compatible item on it. Presently Qi charges at the max input/output supported by the devices that are placed on it. Think of AirPower as being intelligent enough to sense the maximum power input required for a specific device that is supported.
iPhone 8/X = max charge rate 7.5W (AirPower will lower its power draw to match the placed device)
iPhone 2018 = max charge rate 15W (AirPower will increase power to optimize the charge to the device)
Now place two different Qi compatible devices, it charges one at 7.5W and the other at 15W and can increase or decrease power as devices are swapped and lower it when no devices are placed on it, thus saving power or intelligent power management. Plus optimizing by prioritizing power to a device with a lower charge compared to one with an 80% charge. This is a complex thing to do, thus AirPower is delayed, it’s just not another Qi mat/puck. Add cross device communication and possibly with the AirPower mat and things get complicated.
The iPhone and Mac are different products, and this is a logical fallacy.
The Mac has them for external monitors, GPU's, hard drives, etc. The iPhone does not need these same benefits in the current landscape.
It may be ideal from a design perspective, however it is disconnected from the real world.
What would end up happening is people would buy cases that provide a lightning/USB-C connector because the alternative is simply inconvient and will be until true wireless charging. And that’s just power, data is another story.
What would end up happening is people would buy cases that provide a lightning/USB-C connector because the alternative is simply inconvient and will be until true wireless charging. And that’s just power, data is another story.
I'll be shocked if they do that. I think they're just going to hang onto the lightning port until it's time to completely get rid of it and not have any ports. We're probably only a couple/few years away from that being feasible.
Exactly! Though... I see this as a great example of a bigger issue. Removing the port FOR CHARGING is a no-brainer. Sure, we'd have to go buy wireless charging pads, but as that technology improves it's also getting less expensive. No biggie.
BUT... there are so many other scenarios where wireless is simply not an option. CarPlay is a great example. Also, I travel with a DSLR and a lightning-to-SD connector. Apple branded no less! I don't see anyone making wireless versions of those... because that would be dumb. Apple makes lightning to headphones, HDMI/VGA/etc., and USB because there is a need for those. Sure, some could be mitigated wirelessly (such as AirPlay instead of cabled) but that doesn't solve all use cases.
Wireless is great for many things, but isn't the solution for all things. I'll take that even further to suggest that BlueTooth as we know it is great for some wireless connections but is not right for all of them. IMO we need a next-gen low power / high speed / low latency / high reliability wireless technology.
I’m going to leave you with 2 words that prove just how utterly wrong you are:
Thunderbolt
Lightning
My theory is that they will try and do completely wireless charging. Meaning that in the future these battery packs would charge with some bluetooth-like protocol or whatever and not need a cable between the device and the battery to charge the device
While inductive wireless charging is all the rage, not sure where the technological potential currently lies for "inductive transfer of data"? Still seems very futuristic but I'm sure it's coming...
That's not how wireless CarPlay works. There is a difference between wireless power and wireless data transmission. You're never going to get what's required for wireless CarPlay from a $10 dongle ... if it's possible at all.
http://www.connectedcarlife.com/tech/how-does-wireless-apple-carplay-work
I'd be fine with it, but I can see it bothering a ton of people. I don't see this happening until at least 2020-2021.