iFixit iPhone 11 Pro Max Teardown Hints at Unimplemented Bilateral Wireless Charging Feature [Updated]

[DeepIn2U]

You really think the videos are the product of just the people shown on screen? Do you also think Craig Federighi alone designed iOS 13 because he was on stage?

Funny you say that because there is a LOT of youth and even adults that REALLY believe Craig is the only cider of iOS 13! Lol I’ll blame Apple for that as classic WWDC from 2-3yrs who opebing sequence with Xcode younglings flocking to him in the opening gala.

 

[EugW]

Why would they keep the cable for bilateral wireless charging if there is no bilateral wireless charging?

People who repair devices or do tear downs shouldn't pretend they're electrical engineers.

There is absolutely no need whatsoever to have a pair of cables to do reverse charging. The power management circuit that connects to the charging coil would be responsible for current flow into (reverse charging) and out of (charging the phone itself) the coil.

You can see this in tear downs of Samsung phones where there are no additional cables or hardware required for the reverse wireless charging function to work.

So they see something new and they assume it's for reverse charging because they simply don't know.

So as I suspected, the two cables has nothing to do with wireless charging other devices. It just wouldn't make sense anyway from a production point of view.

Also, according to Rene Ritchie:

Update: According to iMore's Rene Ritchie, bilateral inductive charging wasn't pulled from the iPhone 11 because it was never slated for production to begin with. Ritchie says there is no hardware in iPhone 11 models that would allow such a feature to be enabled later.

However, I will mention that at least one of the guys at iFixit has a Master's in Electrical Engineering.

 

[GoodWheaties]

I believe once they announce their new “Apple Tag” product in October (possibly), the bilateral wireless charging will be enabled through an iOS update. Maybe it will only work on the Apple tags for now and that’s why the feature is disabled for the time being... just a guess.

Edit: I feel that if the AW or the AirPods could be charged by such feature, it would have been announced. Maybe on future iterations? There were rumors of a new AirPod being announced by the end of this year...

That actually could be pretty slick. Having a tag that could be recharged simply by holding your phone near it for a bit.

 

[JosephAW]

At least the rumor about moving the Apple logo to the center was correct.

 

[realtuner]

How about wires and coils? And, to connect battery, PMIC and the coils one would certainly need more than two wires, right?

No, and therein lies your problem - you lack a basic understanding of electronics and PMICs.

A PMIC is capable of both sending and receiving power over the same wires. You don’t need separate wires for each function.

The most common example of this is a battery. When your phone is running off the battery the power flows from the battery to the PMIC and then to your phone. When a charger is connected power flows from the charger through the PMIC and back to the battery to charge it. This is all done over the same wires.

A wireless charging coil would work the same way. There’s no need to run two sets of wires to the coil (one for charging normally and one for reverse charging). You’d use a single set of wires and switch the flow of power via your PMIC.

 

[44267547]

Be interesting if it gets activated

I don’t think it will, it seems that Apple may have reserved this technology for the bilateral wireless charging next year. At this point, Apple has a strong tendency to ration their features on a yearly basis, I think this will be reserved for the 2020 iPhones, at this junction, it probably makes most sense.

 

[whoknows2597]

Apple reportedly locks in the final design of the iPhone a year in advance (so even as we speak now, they are possibly finalising the design and specs for next year’s iPhone). So you are right in that there wouldn’t be enough time for Apple to copy anything from the S10, but that also assumes Apple has any desire to even do such a thing in the first place.

Additional tidbit, it was reported that Steve Jobs assisted in designing iPhones after the 4s up to iPhone 6. This was around the time he passed away. Any features that Apple may want on their phones are thought up in advance. So yes, you are correct about people believing in rumors as being truthful.

 

[44267547]

Additional tidbit, it was reported that Steve Jobs assisted in designing iPhones after the 4s up to iPhone 6. This was around the time he passed away.

The iPhone 6 was released in 2015, Steve Jobs passed in October 2011, I doubt he had much involvement with the iPhone 6 design, given it didn’t launch until 4 years later. On top of that, Jony Ive was heavily praised for the iPhone 6 design, being that was probably one of the most successful years for the iPhone transition to ‘large’ displays.

 

[EugW]

I don’t think it will, it seems that Apple may have reserved this technology for the bilateral wireless charging next year. At this point, Apple has a strong tendency to ration their features on a yearly basis, I think this will be reserved for the 2020 iPhones, at this junction, it probably makes most sense.

Yep, Apple plans its rationing years in advance, instead of blowing its load all at once. Makes sense.

However, personally I couldn't give a chit whether they finally include that wireless charging feature or not. Why? Cuz I'm not about to spend US$40/CAD$50 more just to get a wireless charger with my AirPods, esp. since I'll be getting a USB-C iPad Pro soon, and maybe even a USB-C iPhone next year. I'd be happy to charge via USB-C from the iPad to Lightning on the AirPods. Or even better, USB-C to USB-C.

ie. In 2020 I'd be happy with 128 GB storage and USB-C in a 6.7" 5G OLED iPhone.

 

[jimbobb24]

How did bilateral become the word. That’s just... wrong. Bidirectional yes. Bilateral - terrible. Bilateral refers to different sides of an object in the same plane. This features allows the coil to receive charge and charge. That’s bidirectional or some other better word.

 

[mi7chy]

Or bidirectional.

How did bilateral become the word. That’s just... wrong. Bidirectional yes. Bilateral - terrible. Bilateral refers to different sides of an object in the same plane. This features allows the coil to receive charge and charge. That’s bidirectional or some other better word.

That's better than 'bilateral' but more accurately it's 'asynchronous bidirectional' but that gets too geeky for consumers. They're already super familiar with 'wireless charging' so easier to append 'reverse wireless charging'.

Person who came up with 'bilateral' probably was also responsible for 'super retina xdr'.

 

[@Brett]

I am with Rene Ritchie. Once again the rumour mill starts making statements and everyone takes them as gospel. Then get disappointed when it does not happen. I would be happy for no leaks and have the chance to have it all revealed at the keynote. You tubers not all but some are to blame with their speculation for views.

 

[Abazigal]

Charging multiple apple tags sounds more like a job for something like airpower (where you can simply toss a few onto the pad and let it do its job) than via a smartphone, where it's slow and you can only charge one at a time.

 

[Nrwrit3r]

Just wondering - could the presence of the two battery coils be to provide more leeway for wireless charging so the “sweet spot” is expanded?

 

[FamVR]

Apple’s “duo charging“ is a fact. That’s what that extra board is for. Will be activated in a future update.

p.s. I like my new iPhone 11 Pro Max. Camera is amazing. A little wonder.

 

[NetMage]

Just wondering - could the presence of the two battery coils be to provide more leeway for wireless charging so the “sweet spot” is expanded?

No one has said anything about two battery coils - why do you think they exist?

 

[FreeSpeech1st]

If you want to drain the smartphone battery faster maybe this is a good idea.

 

[dantroline]

Be interesting if it gets activated

It's got me doubting that this can be genuine. Shipping something in a basically non-serviceable product that adds weight and cost but not features is unheard of these days.

 

[Serjine]

They didn’t speak about the Ram. The last rumors was that maybe, we have 4Gb for the iPhone, but maybe we have 2Gb of Ram extra only for the cameras. It’s official?

 

[EugW]

They didn’t speak about the Ram. The last rumors was that maybe, we have 4Gb for the iPhone, but maybe we have 2Gb of Ram extra only for the cameras. It’s official?

There has NEVER been any believable indication there was 6 GB or 4+2 GB. People just arbitrarily made this rumour up because of wishful thinking, latching on to incorrectly posted specs at carriers/retailers.

Anyhow, the RAM name tells us it is 32 Gb (4 GB) RAM.

 

[calstanford]

The least upgraded iPhones in the history of upgrades

 

[azentropy]

The iPhone 6 was released in 2015, Steve Jobs passed in October 2011, I doubt he had much involvement with the iPhone 6 design, given it didn’t launch until 4 years later. On top of that, Jony Ive was heavily praised for the iPhone 6 design, being that was probably one of the most successful years for the iPhone transition to ‘large’ displays.

The iPhone 6 was released in 2014 and is believed that it was the last iPhone Steve Jobs worked on.

 

[The Game 161]

The least upgraded iPhones in the history of upgrades

Huh how you work that out? Seeing as early demand is far stronger than projected.

 

[recoil80]

I'd be interested only if it supported the Watch. Every time I go on vacation I need to pack another cable for the Watch, being able to charge it via the phone, or have it fully Qi compatible, would give me the ability to have a single cable to charge everything.

 

[Glockworkorange]

Rene Ritchie is such an Apple shill. He should really be embarrassed but I guess he has zero shame.
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Rene Ritchie is such an Apple shill. He should really be embarrassed but I guess he has zero shame.
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B

Why would they keep the cable for bilateral wireless charging if there is no bilateral wireless charging?

Because they are lying through Rene Ritchie, shill extraordinaire.