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Magnetically Attached iPhone 12 Wireless Charger Unveiled Ahead of Apple Event

joelhinch said:
Getting ready to remove the port in iPhone 13
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Whilst I wouldn't be surprised if Apple removed the port (it a very Apple thing to do), I've literally just bought a £50,000 vehicle that has Android Auto/Carplay and the phone needs to be plugged in.

What would happen in this case? Because I'm not going to change my vehicle in order to keep using Carplay.
 
polyphenol said:
Possibly the new approach will be significantly more efficient?
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I hope so.

dhoughal said:
In a time when we all should save energy to slow down climate change, wireless charging with its inefficencies seems to be one of the least innovative things to me. It's like refuelling a car with a syringe and losing half of the fuel in the process.
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I agree it is wasteful if a lot of energy is lost in the process of wireless charging. Hopefully it can improve since I absolutely find it convenient, but of course it's not worth that if the environmental price is too high.

debugger.medium.com

Wireless Charging Is a Disaster Waiting to Happen

We crunched the numbers on just how inefficient wireless charging is — and the results are pretty shocking
debugger.medium.com debugger.medium.com
 
AlexESP said:
You can check iPhone parts online to compare sizes. About adoption rate, that’s exactly why other companies don’t do it and someone has to do it first. Some older solutions may have more compatibility, but the ultimate goal is to push the best ones, and sooner or later the industry will embrace them. Yes, it‘s less efficient, slower... but there’s one point where it’s fast enough that it’s worth it. And, in fact, I don’t think many people still sync their phones with their computers, and wifi is fast enough for most of the rest.
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That's the definition of a pipe dream and arrogant ignorance towards actual user needs and usage patterns. There's also no evidence magnetic charging is the "best" one. It's existed for a while and it's still slow, cumbersome, wasteful, and user unfriendly. About iPhone parts: true but also moot if the component needs to be redesigned to become the primary charge. About I/O: wireless is still fallible, and as for wifi speed... clearly you haven't used European wifi lol. Sidenote: One thing I don't get about Apple is still not letting us perform iOS updates OTA via LTE, even if it's 100MB and my LTE is 10x faster than my wifi.

AlexESP said:
I have it, and I like it. It just follows the path of the MacBook Air, followed by everyone: less ports, only SDD storage, etc. About the problems it suffered, I’m sure Apple will be able to solve them with ARM.
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Great for you, it's not about what *you* like though and you ignore a host of issues the usb-c direction created.

AlexESP said:
dongles... The iPhone 7 started at $649, dongle included in the box (it was $10). There are many wireless headphones from the competition, so it’s not different than it was before. The MBP starts at $1299 (not a super-high volume product to gain accesory revenue, btw), dongles from $20. So you think they’re trying to upset people with changes in order to gain 1-2% (if everyone bought the cheapest version AND everyone bought the dongle) of the price of the product, which could easily be a price increase.
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Yes, that's exactly what I think. Bleeding users extra through higher peripheral costs, increased breakability at a higher repair cost, and let's not forget how the courage was not so much about the $10 dongle but to SELL AIRPODS.

dhoughal said:
In a time when we all should save energy to slow down climate change, wireless charging with its inefficencies seems to be one of the least innovative things to me. It's like refuelling a car with a syringe and losing half of the fuel in the process.
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Exactly what he said.
 
skiwildcat7 said:
Wireless CarPlay isn’t ubiquitous enough. You need serious upgrades to the head units even in cars made right now.
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Unless Apple made a dongle that could be connected to the USB port of the car and then connect to the phone wirelessly.

Although then I wouldn't have a USB port to plug in my "wireless" Apple charger so I could also plug in my phone to charge...
 
vipergts2207 said:
Right, but how many late model cars are on the road with only wired CarPlay? I’m guessing Apple doesn’t want to piss off their customers or forgo those customers upgrading to their newest phones because their car won’t work with it.
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Apple has never hesitated to piss off customers by abandoning some technology used by many. It won’t hesitate this time either.
 
My take on this is that it's a wireless charging pad with enough magnetic pull to guide the phone onto the correct placement, but not so much that it can be relatively easy to pull off. This would also help the phone from being bumped off position. Kind of like magnetic phone mounts in cars. It's not some sort of charger that we would actually keep attached to our phone while trying to use it.
 
Mildredop said:
Whilst I wouldn't be surprised if Apple removed the port (it a very Apple thing to do), I've literally just bought a £50,000 vehicle that has Android Auto/Carplay and the phone needs to be plugged in.

What would happen in this case? Because I'm not going to change my vehicle in order to keep using Carplay.
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There are already adapters for wireless Carplay. No, Apple isn't going to change tack just because you bought a new car. There were cars sold with 30-pin cables as well.
 
Mildredop said:
Unless Apple made a dongle that could be connected to the USB port of the car and then connect to the phone wirelessly.

Although then I wouldn't have a USB port to plug in my "wireless" Apple charger so I could also plug in my phone to charge...
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But if the new MagSafe charger could also carry data...
 
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billy7527 said:
My take on this is that it's a wireless charging pad with enough magnetic pull to guide the phone onto the correct placement, but not so much that it can be relatively easy to pull off. This would also help the phone from being bumped off position. Kind of like magnetic phone mounts in cars. It's not some sort of charger that we would actually keep attached to our phone while trying to use it.
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I agree with this. This is simply a fix for the very real problem where current wireless chargers require very careful and precise alignment, and can stop charging from a minor bump.

Edit: This will also open the door to replacing the cable with a smart connector a-la the iPad.
 
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zhenya said:
I agree with this. This is simply a fix for the very real problem where current wireless chargers require very careful and precise alignment, and can stop charging from a minor bump.
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I was late to work a couple weeks ago because my alarm didn't go off. Turns out, my cat bumped my phone off of the wireless charger.
 
If this new “puck” charger also does data and has a USB-A end on the other end most people can just swap it for their current lightning cable. Every wired CarPlay unit I’ve seen uses a regular USB-A to lightning cable(although sometimes the cable is plugged in where you’d have to dismantle part of your dash).
 
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dhoughal said:
Two options to solve this problem: Get rid of the cat or use a cable to charge your phone. You're welcome!
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Haha, well I've used the cable on every electronic device ever. I agree that it's a much more efficient way to charge the device and intend on going back to it when I get my next iPhone.

I unfortunately broke my charger port while trying to clean out lint and wasn't careful enough. Did this in August and it was cheaper to buy a wireless charging pad to hold me over until the new iPhones are released.
 
The iPad Pro & Case / Apple Watch was the precursor to this. Get enough people usin the watch to get used to it daily, they’ll get used to this even easier. Can see why this wouldnt be included.
 
Great idea. like the Solo Loop bands, so simple and obvious, but such a great idea.
 
I kinda hope the iPhone itself only has metal plates inside and not actual magnets. Having it attract metal object like keys and coins would not help in terms of scratching it up. It probably isn't too good for magnetic stripe on credit cards (which some people keep sandwiched between phone and case) however modern cards don't really use that stripe.

On the apple watch, the magnets are in the charging puck so I assume they'll do the same.
 
dhoughal said:
Hopefully the EU will force phone manufacturers to provide a physical charging port as long as wireless charging is such a waste of electricity as today.
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Perhaps... but it's not gonna happen in the next 12 months. :p

Honestly... the EU has been harping about cables and plugs for years... but all they managed to do was make sure the charger end of the cable is some kind of USB... (which was the norm anyway)

So I don't think the EU will come rescue us from this upcoming portless world...
 
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There are too many messages to sift through so maybe I missed this already being said, but the main advantage here if the charging puck is truly light and tightly secured with magnets is that you can finally continue to use the phone while it’s charging. It’s close to impossible to use the phone in your hands while it’s on a regular contactless charger at the moment. I personally will be very glad if that’s the case.
 
I don't get why this is being called the return of Mag-Safe? In what way is this at all a return to mag-safe? Are wireless chargers now seen as a danger to cause your laptop to fall to the ground if tripped over?
 
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