Wireless Charging on iPhone 6S?

[AppleFan91]

Hey guys, one of the things we haven't really heard much about in the iPhone 6S rumor mill is wireless charging. All the rumors are pointing to Force Touch, 12mp camera and improved Touch ID. Anyone think we'll get wireless charging similar to the Apple Watch? Or at least turbo charging? Have to admit, those were the toughest things to leave when I tried the Galaxy S6 for a week

 

[Appl3FTW]

Hey guys, one of the things we haven't really heard much about in the iPhone 6S rumor mill is wireless charging. All the rumors are pointing to Force Touch, 12mp camera and improved Touch ID. Anyone think we'll get wireless charging similar to the Apple Watch? Or at least turbo charging? Have to admit, those were the toughest things to leave when I tried the Galaxy S6 for a week

cuz plugging it in is so hard


it's a welcome feature but its far from a deal breaker. honestly i want something more drastic, like how touchID was for the 5s.

5s is the best S series upgrade ever, it would be tough to follow it... but we'll see.

 

[Newtons Apple]

Apple would have to add a coil for inductive charging to make that happen and I can't see it happen in the "S" series. Maybe in the new 7. Wireless charging is not a deal breaker for me.

 

[cynics]

cuz plugging it in is so hard


it's a welcome feature but its far from a deal breaker. honestly i want something more drastic, like how touchID was for the 5s.

5s is the best S series upgrade ever, it would be tough to follow it... but we'll see.

I feel wireless charging would go over similar as TouchID. People would say something similar to what you just did like they did with TouchID, "Because entering a passcode is so hard ". But once they use it they find it to be quite useful and easier.

Like TouchID I think Apple will use a better and (unfortunately) proprietary technology to make it better then the competition, at least initially.

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Apple would have to add a coil for inductive charging to make that happen and I can't see it happen in the "S" series. Maybe in the new 7. Wireless charging is not a deal breaker for me.

Although TouchID was a hardware change/addition in an S model in the button and logic board I tend to agree with you on this. Adding wireless charging to an iPhone I feel will require a modified case, the components, etc etc, too much change for an S model update.

 

[AppleFan91]

cuz plugging it in is so hard

I never said that it was hard. No need to be rude when I just asked a question. That being said, I take it you were of the same camp that said "Who needs Touch ID? cuz typing your password/pin is so hard :roll eyes: " Or "Who needs a bigger screen? Cuz pinching/zooming every article is so hard :roll eyes: "

All I'm saying is, when Apple eventually adds this feature, make sure you don't champion it as a major change.

 

[lancastor]

Wireless charging is very inefficient and slow.

 

[Appl3FTW]

TouchID is not in the same league as that lame wireless charging. I mean your phone locks out all the time and you constantly have to put in your passcode. Do you charge and unplug your phone every 2 mins? How often do you charge your phone? and is it REALLY THAT HARD to plug the cable every morning or every night you charge it? I don't think so. So if anything wireless charging is an "extra" feature, not a necessity. Bottom line is that it's a weak upgrade.

 

[cynics]

TouchID is not in the same league as that lame wireless charging. I mean your phone locks out all the time and you constantly have to put in your passcode. Do you charge and unplug your phone every 2 mins? How often do you charge your phone? and is it REALLY THAT HARD to plug the cable every morning or every night you charge it? I don't think so. So if anything wireless charging is an "extra" feature, not a necessity. Bottom line is that it's a weak upgrade.

I think this is subjective.

There is a large portion of people that don't use a passcode. Or wear gloves (many work on capacitive screens like latex rubber and some leather) and need to remove them if you want to use the Touch ID so you enter the passcode anyway.

However everyone charges their phone, there is no choice otherwise.

I say subjective because it seems like you are basing this on your usage. I charge my iPhone several times a day since I'm on it all day for work (Bluetooth). Often get up from my desk and need to unplug my phone. Cable falls behind the desk on occasion. Get a phone call at night when I'm on call for work and I'm fumbling to unplug the phone or decide to bring my head closer to the night stand. First world problems.

Current tech may not be the best solution but something new and better could be useful to a lot of people.

Besides a charging pad is the solution to multiple iPhones instead of a cob web of wires.

 

[IFRIT]

TouchID is not in the same league as that lame wireless charging. I mean your phone locks out all the time and you constantly have to put in your passcode. Do you charge and unplug your phone every 2 mins? How often do you charge your phone? and is it REALLY THAT HARD to plug the cable every morning or every night you charge it? I don't think so. So if anything wireless charging is an "extra" feature, not a necessity. Bottom line is that it's a weak upgrade.

Spoken like a person that has never had a phone with wireless charging.

 

[eclipse01]

I would love to just set on a wireless charger at night instead of fumbling around looking for the correct cord to charge it (i have a few different cables on my night stand micro usb, etc...)

 

[rockitdog]

As a current s6 owner who was pumped to have wireless charging I now can say it's not as cool as I thought it once was. I'd rather have my device plugged in and use it while it charges. When my device is on my wireless charger it's essentially unusable.

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I would love to just set on a wireless charger at night instead of fumbling around looking for the correct cord to charge it (i have a few different cables on my night stand micro usb, etc...)

There still is some fumbling around as well because it has to go on the charger just right, it's not as easy as you think.

 

[eclipse01]

As a current s6 owner who was pumped to have wireless charging I now can say it's not as cool as I thought it once was. I'd rather have my device plugged in and use it while it charges. When my device is on my wireless charger it's essentially unusable.

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There still is some fumbling around as well because it has to go on the charger just right, it's not as easy as you think.

interesting. I always thought you just sat it on the mat or disk or whatever the source is.

 

[Appl3FTW]

Spoken like a person that has never had a phone with wireless charging.

yes because it's the end of the world if I can't wireless charge

what a hard life it must have been...

 

[rockitdog]

Spoken like a person that has never had a phone with wireless charging.

I have it and let me be the first to say, it's not all that great.

 

[recoil80]

If they introduced the wireless charing it should be compatible with iPhones, iPads and Watches.
I'd be convenient to have a big plate where you can put all your iOS devices and charge them during the night.
I don't think this feature is coming in 2015 but it may come in the future

 

[geoff5093]

Wireless charging isn't mean to completely replace plugging your phone in, as it is slower and less efficient. There are many use cases for wireless charging though. Most people probably put their phone on their desk at work, now when you put it down it's charging. If you plug it in you have to actually plug it in and unplug it when you need to leave, versus just placing it down and picking it up like you do now.

Another common use is car docks. No longer do you have to plug in your phone with a cable draping down over your HVAC controls, you can neatly route the cable to the car dock and simply put your phone in there to charge and use.

It's great for keeping your phone topped off. Now for usual charging say, turbo charging would be great. It allows you to charge over 50% of your phone in 30 minutes or so.

 

[Woochifer]

Adds heft and bulk. I doubt that Apple will go in that direction anytime soon. Wireless charging is slow and inefficient, which goes against where Apple seems to be leaning in both their engineering and green initiatives.

If anything, I see Apple dialing in big efficiency and battery life gains with the 6s and the 7. The 6s is already rumored for a die shrink, which Apple can use for either a performance or battery life bump, or a combination of the two. And since the A8 processor did not make any big changes to the microarchitecture, a design change with the A9 would also potentially bump up the efficiency and/or performance.

With the iPhone 6/6 Plus, Apple applied the efficiency gains of the A8 towards making the devices thin and light, and accommodating the larger screen and higher resolution. With the 6s, if Apple chooses not to go for huge benchmark performance gains, then they can raise the bar for battery life without bulking up the devices. And that would reduce the utility of wireless charging.

 

[Woochifer]

I never said that it was hard. No need to be rude when I just asked a question. That being said, I take it you were of the same camp that said "Who needs Touch ID? cuz typing your password/pin is so hard :roll eyes: " Or "Who needs a bigger screen? Cuz pinching/zooming every article is so hard :roll eyes: "

All I'm saying is, when Apple eventually adds this feature, make sure you don't champion it as a major change.

Touch ID is not nearly in the same conversation. Touch ID is Apple at its best. It's a best-in-class implementation of an idea that had dangled around for more than a decade.

It serves the user by providing a ridiculously simple way of securing their phone, and removing any disincentive to do so. Before Touch ID came along, less than half of iPhone users secured their phones. Now, over 80% of them do.

And Touch ID serves Apple by allowing them to more fully secure the iOS platform, and use the feature to launch other security-driven initiatives like Apple Pay. Wireless charging's utility does not have nearly the same comprehensive reach that Touch ID has.

Apple might be able to come up with a better solution than the clunky and inelegant wireless charging setups currently out there. (Personally, I'd rather use a wire, since it charges the phone faster) But, as I posted above, I suspect that Apple's next frontier will be much longer battery life, which would reduce the utility of wireless charging.

 

[DeanSolecki]

I wish apple would drop proprietary connectors and use usb C for the next iphone. This matters way, way more to me than wireless charging.

It doesn't matter that much TODAY, but 3-4 years from now when EVERY peripheral is usb C apple users are going to wish they could use the most ubiquitous cable in electronics over a one-use proprietary cable from apple.

I don't know why people would defend this, but I expect it. It made sense to come up with a dual-direction charger when the alternative was the ubiquitous single direction, but now apple needs to make the jump to the new standard. I'm hoping they do.

 

[AppleFan91]

I wish apple would drop proprietary connectors and use usb C for the next iphone. This matters way, way more to me than wireless charging.

It doesn't matter that much TODAY, but 3-4 years from now when EVERY peripheral is usb C apple users are going to wish they could use the most ubiquitous cable in electronics over a one-use proprietary cable from apple.

I don't know why people would defend this, but I expect it. It made sense to come up with a dual-direction charger when the alternative was the ubiquitous single direction, but now apple needs to make the jump to the new standard. I'm hoping they do.

I agree with you 100%. Unfortunately Apple is kind of stuck between a rock and a hard place. On one hand they can stick with Lightning because they can charge what they want for their official MFi label and everyone has to purchase those cables to safely charge their devices. Also, they said they were sticking with Lightning for awhile. They could flip to USB-C like every other manufacturer but then think of the storm that was caused when they went from the 30-pin to the lightning connector. I work at a carrier in the US and that's all we heard for weeks (and still do every now and then). Imagine if just 3 years later they switch it up again. People would piss and moan even more. Some would get over it and still buy but some wouldn't. Again, I agree with you, but I think it would be easier for Apple to just stick with the lightning connector rather than USB-C, so they will for a few more years.

 

[mofunk]

I've seen wireless charging for the iPhone via 3rd party apps. It looks pretty cool. You don't have to look for cables or continue buying cables do to wear and tear. Some of the devices are small enough to put in your pocket.

 

[I7guy]

I think this is subjective.

There is a large portion of people that don't use a passcode. Or wear gloves (many work on capacitive screens like latex rubber and some leather) and need to remove them if you want to use the Touch ID so you enter the passcode anyway.

However everyone charges their phone, there is no choice otherwise.

I say subjective because it seems like you are basing this on your usage. I charge my iPhone several times a day since I'm on it all day for work (Bluetooth). Often get up from my desk and need to unplug my phone. Cable falls behind the desk on occasion. Get a phone call at night when I'm on call for work and I'm fumbling to unplug the phone or decide to bring my head closer to the night stand. First world problems.

Current tech may not be the best solution but something new and better could be useful to a lot of people.

Besides a charging pad is the solution to multiple iPhones instead of a cob web of wires.

I have 4 places in my house plus work that I charge, I can't see wireless charging in the same league, for me. You're right, it is subjective, and compared to Touch ID not in the same league for me.

 

[C DM]

I've seen wireless charging for the iPhone via 3rd party apps. It looks pretty cool. You don't have to look for cables or continue buying cables do to wear and tear. Some of the devices are small enough to put in your pocket.

How can an app wirelessly charge?

 

[jimbo1mcm]

I have an AirCharge wireless case on my IP6 and like it a lot. I also have a 3 coil charger base that sits the phone at an angle and works well. The case is just slightly thicker than the leather case I had on it. The only downside is the lightning cable input is covered. If you use it a lot, and I do not, then it might not be for you. In my life style, I put it on the charger at night and lift it off in the morning. I had wireless charging on my LG G2 and my wife has it on her Galaxy S6. For some people it is a very nice feature.

PS. For the poster who said it is useless during wireless charging, "Hey Siri" works and she will do your every desire.

 

[1984world]

I just bought my first Android phone (samsung galaxy s6) that has wireless charging and I absolutely love it. I purchased 5 different charging mats, and I can tell you, they aren't created equal. If you get a good one, (which 4 of my 5 are) then you have no issue lining it up to charge. So much nicer than plugging in cables (which you can still do if you want to use it while charging) and very easy to use. The phone is extremely thin and no extra bulk added with the feature. I have the 6 plus too, and honestly, I don't know how i got by without wireless charging this long, it is just so convenient.