iPhone 8 May Use Apple's In-House Inductive Wireless Charging Rather Than Technology From Energous

[69Mustang]

Apple WILL NOT be using a routine inductive tech in the iPhone 8. That tech has been out for years and is boring and not very useful. Apple will incorporate a true wireless charging solution, with little charging pods that can radiate power up to 15 feet. Anybody thinking Apple is going to go inductive is truly clueless.

Those little charging pods don't have an effective range of up to 15 feet. The larger charging station does. If I remember correctly, the little charging pods have an effective range measured in a few inches and are best used with contact. That's Energous tech. The exact company in this article that the researchers have shorted.

 

[DaPizzaMan]

They make many different kinds of qi compatible batteries that you can carry with you which makes it convenient and mobile, some of those chargers also support rapid charging so they are as fast as wired charging. If you followed closely with the true wireless charging you would have noticed that the signal doesn't pass through skin which means you wouldn't be using the phone while it's charging also energous is more than a little sketchy about the numbers and how fast and how far away you can be from the transmitter. My money would be on very small devices using that type of charging, like hearing aids etc.

I never said I want to go to wireless charging either. But at least you're not tethered with wireless. With wired and inductive, you're tethered. With inductive you cannot lift your phone, but with a wire you can.

I'm really not concerned about how fast my phone charges. It charges fast enough now... I don't see how inductive could improve that.

 

[ksnell]

I honestly need someone to explain to me what the actual benefits of inductive "wireless" charging are. I had this feature on my Palm in 2011--it was fine but nothing particularly exciting. How is it any better than just dropping my iPhone on a dock at night?

The benefits of this are exactly the same as a wired connection vs. WiFi for the internet (at least for Energous' tech).

You have a base station plugged into the wall that charges all your devices from a distance of up to 15 feet away. Although it may not charge as fast, you can plug one of these things in and it covers the whole bedroom, so you can just set your phone on the nightstand, and leave your watch on, and they both charge. Same for in the car or at work.

 

[lordofthereef]

There is nothing about inductive charging that makes it better than wired charging. That means you won't be able to pick up your phone while it's charging unless you pick up the charging dock/pad as well. I never will understand this.

If your argument is that it's much easier to just drop the phone on a pad rather than sticking the charger into the phone, give me a break. You're talking a second or two at most.

Well, much of this is a matter of opinion, however I'd like to mention a few benefits I would have.

First and formoset is wear on the cable and port. The port im not terribly worried about (for my own uses) but I have frayed many an apple cable just using it normally. I like to plug my phone in at my desk, pick it up, put it down, etc. This probably contributes to the frayed. Obviously I won't be plugging it in and out during the day. Laying it down on a pad would elminate that strain.

This leads me to the time savings. Sure it is only a second or two. I guess for me it is a matter of conveninece. I set it down and don't think about it. This also opens possibilities at airport terminals, coffee shops, etc. FWIW some of these already exist. No need for a cable when you can just set it down somewhere and get a charge.

Which leads my to my final point; car docks. My phone automatically gets placed in a car dock almost anywhere I drive. If I need power (longer trips) and/or don't want to drain the battery I manually plug it in. How convenient would it be to have a powered dock that requires no plug? Just slip it in and go. Everything else already happens over bluetooth so the plug is merely another cable that eventually gets trashed in the car. I have had the same dock for four years. I can't say that about the cables in the car.

I call these sorts of things "quality of life" improvements. It's not some killer feature that is going to overall change the way we use our phones. It's just a minor convenience. For example, second gen touch ID is much faster and more responsive than first gen. Was first gen bad an unusable> Absolutely not. But when I can choose, I will pick gen 2 all day every day (I know opinions differ on this too). The technology necessary inside of a phone to allow it to charge wirelessly is so thin, it's incredible. It's about the thicness of a piece of paper with the surface area of about a credit card. Honestly, the only thing barring current iphones from its utilization is the fact they are metal cases; perhaps Apple has something up their sleeve in those regards.

But the beauty of wireless charging as an option, is you'd still have the standard plug, if that is your preference, much like we have a choice to use touch ID, passwords, icloud locks, etc. All are optional, and if they don't fit your needs, you simply don't use them.

 

[ksnell]

Am I the only person who sees absolutely no point to wireless charging? As long as you have to stay within a certain proximity of a wireless charging station, how does this free you up in any way? Might as well plug a cable in and get it over with.

Now, if we could wirelessly charge while walking down the street or while on an airplane, that would be something truly useful.

But as long as we are tied down to a radius of 10 feet, I'd rather just use my 9-foot-long lightning cable.

This is even more true with "inductive charging." What benefit does this bring at all? It's just like plugging your phone in, but instead of plugging, you are placing it on a mat? How does this help anyone? Seems to me like people will just have to spend tons more ca$h on Apple's "inductive charging pads."

No thanks.

See my last post (#78). If Apple was going to come out with a charging mat, they already would have. They have shown in the past that they think the tech is too clunky.

Instead, compare to WiFi. Yes, you are tethered to a certain area, but people still seem to enjoy WiFi right?

If Apple is smart they would release a base station mesh network device(s) with WiFi, wireless charging, speaker with AirPlay, a microphone for Siri, and HomeKit integration. This would be extremely useful.

 

[Soccertess]

I don't believe this rumor. Not only does it not line up with other rumors, it doesn't make sense. Apple also wanted a superior solution, and I think they found it with Energous. I can see Apple adopting this tech and adding specific features to Apple. That's where I think they will go with it.

I also think that laptops will get it, and thus that's why they ditch our beloved magsafe. Anyways, I guess we will see in a couple of months!

 

[Iconoclysm]

Nice try. No where in my quote did I say Apple did nothing with NFC. Of course they did. They used it to power Apple Pay. I asked what did Apple do to NFC? You know, like improving it or something of that nature. As to what else they did with it? Well, along with using it to power Apple Pay they restricted it's use in iOS. Limiting it's capacity across the ecosystem. That's something they did with it. <--- Some would classify that as something they did to it as well.


No I am actually not aware of the ability to count the number of pre-iPhone phones with a fp sensor on one finger. Are you referring to the Toshiba G500 or the G900? No, no wait. You're referring to the HTC P6500 right? No? Then I'm guessing you meant the Atrix. But it's still gonna be pretty hard to count those on that single finger.

It's not that hard to be thought of as innovative when you buy Authentec, cancel their contracts with other companies, and use their tech exclusively. Just sayin'.


And in the MBP too. So yeah, it's coming to the phone as well.


So if it wasn't lost, how did you start quoting off topic? Was it intentional to change the narrative? 'Cause nothing in the original quote was untrue as it related to Key's post.

I wouldn't count the inclusion of OLED on any of those things to mean it's coming to iPhone at all.

Authentec isn't the only component that makes TouchID successful, let alone innovative - which I never said.

Ok, let's limit it to modern smartphones...regardless, it was all but abandoned by any competition.

What they did to NFC was everything I said. NFC is not some new technology that their competitors thought up, they tried to get NFC payments off the ground and failed. Because they didn't put the leg work in to make it happen from soup to nuts, similar to what happened with TouchID.

Change the narrative? No. Point out what is being snarkily ingored? Yes. And again, in these cases there wasn't an in house tech that Apple was building that they let someone else launch first. If you see mLED hit the market before Apple does it, then you'll have a good comparison.

And frankly, none of Apple's competition created any of the respective technologies we're discussing. Not OLED, not NFC, not Fingerprint Sensors, etc.

 

[Mac 128]

But the beauty of wireless charging as an option, is you'd still have the standard plug, if that is your preference, much like we have a choice to use touch ID, passwords, icloud locks, etc. All are optional, and if they don't fit your needs, you simply don't use them.

I don't think Apple plans to give us this option. If we get wireless charging, Lightning goes away. That said, is they add something like the smart connector first, whilst retaining the physical Lightning port, then they set up their customer base for the removal of the Lightning port in the next iteration, when they finally add contactless wireless charging, which will need the inductive counterpart as a backup, and for some hardwired applications, like audio cables.

 

[Iconoclysm]

See my last post (#78). If Apple was going to come out with a charging mat, they already would have. They have shown in the past that they think the tech is too clunky.

Instead, compare to WiFi. Yes, you are tethered to a certain area, but people still seem to enjoy WiFi right?

If Apple is smart they would release a base station mesh network device(s) with WiFi, wireless charging, speaker with AirPlay, a microphone for Siri, and HomeKit integration. This would be extremely useful.

I think the wireless charging solution needs to be more portable than that. But in addition to it, yeah, I think it would be good.

 

[jlo1158]

OLED has not happened, at all. In the case of NFC and the fingerprint sensor, nobody was getting it right...until Apple. That's what "happens all the time".

Just out of curiosity how is Apple getting nfc right and no one else is? A few years ago I walked into a Best Buy. I walked over to some speakers sitting on a shelf. I then waved my phone over the speakers and had music playing in less than 30 seconds. As far as I know you still can't do that with the nfc on an IPhone. I've since gotten 2 sets of nfc headphones. They work just as well.

 

[lordofthereef]

I don't think Apple plans to give us this option. If we get wireless charging, Lightning goes away

You think so? I don't really see it. No reason for me to assume Apple wants to get right of the lightning cable. I am more inclined to expect USB c

 

[jlo1158]

Yes, they use Bluetooth, but it doesn't discount the fact that the W1 brings a significant advantage in range, battery life, and convenience. The ability to seamlessly pair across multiple devices and switch between them on the fly is far superior to the current method of switching devices between shared Bluetooth headphones.

I do like the way they connect to multiple devices. Isn't that only Apple devices though? If that's the case it wouldn't be much help on any non-Apple devices.

 

[profets]

I do like the way they connect to multiple devices. Isn't that only Apple devices though? If that's the case it wouldn't be much help on any non-Apple devices.

The initial syncing will auto pair the AirPods to any apple watches, iPods, iPhones, iPads and Macs that you have setup with your Apple ID / iCloud. However, you can pair additional devices (like Apple TVs or non-Apple devices) and it is still quick for connecting to those as well.
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You think so? I don't really see it. No reason for me to assume Apple wants to get right of the lightning cable. I am more inclined to expect USB c

I've made this guess before (not that I agree with it), but I have a feeling that we'll see no ports (lightning removed) before we see USB-C added. I think their goal is to go as wireless as possible (which we have kind of seen to some extent).

 

[farewelwilliams]

okay - explain

it's stupid to put your phone on a pad.
- so if you have to use your phone, you have to lift it off the pad and it'll stop charging?
- and if you want to charge your tablet, you have to switch to a cable or somehow position the tablet so it doesn't fall of the pad?

it doesn't make sense.

 

[lordofthereef]

The initial syncing will auto pair the AirPods to any apple watches, iPods, iPhones, iPads and Macs that you have setup with your Apple ID / iCloud. However, you can pair additional devices (like Apple TVs or non-Apple devices) and it is still quick for connecting to those as well.
[doublepost=1485212278][/doublepost]

I've made this guess before (not that I agree with it), but I have a feeling that we'll see no ports (lightning removed) before we see USB-C added. I think their goal is to go as wireless as possible (which we have kind of seen to some extent).

If they do go all wirless it will absolutely have to charge at some reasonable distance for me to get on board. Not being able to get power if/when needed is simply not an option for me.

My hopes for USB-C stem from the fact they've gone that route with macbooks. Also, the lightning port on the airpods case is a peculiar shape, just right for USB C cables. Admittedly this latter point is a stretch.

 

[kyykesko]

One small problem with charging an Apple device from another Apple device: none of those have large enough batteries to power even the device itself for any reasonable amount of time let alone charge another one. "Yay, the new improved Macbook Pro with 2h run time if you charge your phone! It took us courage to come up with this!"

 

[Iconoclysm]

Just out of curiosity how is Apple getting nfc right and no one else is? A few years ago I walked into a Best Buy. I walked over to some speakers sitting on a shelf. I then waved my phone over the speakers and had music playing in less than 30 seconds. As far as I know you still can't do that with the nfc on an IPhone. I've since gotten 2 sets of nfc headphones. They work just as well.

You can do that with bluetooth on the iPhone. This function of NFC is nothing that BLE doesn't already do. There are many who think NFC should just be completely replaced with BLE at this point.

I should have been more clear that I mean NFC payments.

 

[jlo1158]

The initial syncing will auto pair the AirPods to any apple watches, iPods, iPhones, iPads and Macs that you have setup with your Apple ID / iCloud. However, you can pair additional devices (like Apple TVs or non-Apple devices) and it is still quick for connecting to those as well.
[doublepost=1485212278][/doublepost]

I've made this guess before (not that I agree with it), but I have a feeling that we'll see no ports (lightning removed) before we see USB-C added. I think their goal is to go as wireless as possible (which we have kind of seen to some extent).

What you said is true. I was taking about the added benefits of the W1 chip being only helpful with Apple products.

 

[Iconoclysm]

I do like the way they connect to multiple devices. Isn't that only Apple devices though? If that's the case it wouldn't be much help on any non-Apple devices.

Pairing with multiple devices isn't exclusive to just AirPods so I imagine it works both ways but I haven't tried it myself.

 

[falainber]

Such as what? Exactly how was that going to make NFC payments catch on - which is the real reason for all of this. Anything else can be done with BTLE.

One could argue that "getting it right" involved focusing on its real purpose in a phone.

That's what happens when people get stuck in Apple walled garden. NFC is now widely used for easy device pairing. Photo cameras is a good example. Many modern ones allow users to transfer photos from camera to smartphone (via WiFi) as well as remote control. To pair Android smartphone with a camera equipped with NFC one simply needs to bump one against another.

 

[macduke]

This is what Phil Schiller said in an interview when asked about inductive chargers in the iPhone:

“Having to create another device you have to plug into the wall is actually, for most situations, more complicated.”

He's right. I fully understand that Apple has said several things in the past and taken them back once their product features it—but come on. Apple could have implemented this in the iPhone easily a long time ago. It's not exactly difficult. I don't put a whole lot of stock in this article, but if it's true then that would be seen as a pretty big disappointment and non-reason to upgrade to the next iPhone because it now features tech from 6-7 years ago.

 

[Iconoclysm]

That's what happens when people get stuck in Apple walled garden. NFC is now widely used for easy device pairing. Photo cameras is a good example. Many modern ones allow users to transfer photos from camera to smartphone (via WiFi) as well as remote control. To pair Android smartphone with a camera equipped with NFC one simply needs to bump one against another.

Don't know how many times I need to explain the benefits of BLE - NOTHING you just listed cannot be done by using the proximity functions of Bluetooth. In fact, Apple uses it with their Apple TV when you tap your phone to it - pairs wifi, grabs all your account info, etc. I wouldn't be surprised if you're using Bluetooth functions on some of these devices when tapping and don't even know it because you assume NFC is the only technology that works that way...just like you assume Apple hasn't duplicated that functionality without needing NFC.

I'm not stuck in any walled garden, these are the assumptions that lead to these sort of misguided comments. I own every smartphone platform, work for Apple's competitors, am a telephony consultant, and have been using NFC since the mid-90's when it was simply RFID.

 

[Analog Kid]

You think so? I don't really see it. No reason for me to assume Apple wants to get right of the lightning cable. I am more inclined to expect USB c

The only reason I can imagine Apple switching to inductive charging (and I'm pretty confident they won't be using RF charging) is to eliminate the Lightning port.

I'm pretty sure the reason Apple hasn't gone with wireless charging so far is because it offers no real benefit over the wire. If they take the wire away though, to improve water resistance for example, then wireless charging allows them to do that.

I'd be pretty shocked if they dumped Lightning for USB-C. It would be pretty disruptive for very little practical benefit.

 

[big-ted]

There is nothing about inductive charging that makes it better than wired charging. That means you won't be able to pick up your phone while it's charging unless you pick up the charging dock/pad as well. I never will understand this.

If your argument is that it's much easier to just drop the phone on a pad rather than sticking the charger into the phone, give me a break. You're talking a second or two at most.

That is assuming the next iPhone has a socket to plug the charging cable in, yet another connector removed

 

[profets]

If they do go all wirless it will absolutely have to charge at some reasonable distance for me to get on board. Not being able to get power if/when needed is simply not an option for me.

My hopes for USB-C stem from the fact they've gone that route with macbooks. Also, the lightning port on the airpods case is a peculiar shape, just right for USB C cables. Admittedly this latter point is a stretch.

I can't imagine it happening any time soon. And what would worry me is no user accessible way to restore a device if needed (like the watch currently is).

Same thoughts regarding USB-C. Though for charging (including AirPods), I feel like they've really invested in Lightning at this point, especially for accessories (Siri Remote, Pencil, Keyboard, Trackpad, Mouse, AirPods). Never quite understood that chatter about the port on the AirPods being shaped for USB-C. It looks identical to the Lightning port on my iPhone?