Every week seems to bring another indication from the supply chain about Apple dropping another key feature from the upcoming iPhone 7. With many popular features from rival handsets not expected to arrive until 2017′s presumptively titled iPhone 8, it’s nice to read about one technology that I hope Apple will bring to the iPhone 7. With so much ‘gee whizz’ delayed a year, could wireless charging be the big attraction of this year’s flagship iPhone launch?
Apple already has experience with wireless charging – the Apple Watch uses an inductive charging system that removes the need for a wires connection between the device and the charger, although it does required the transmitting and receiving coils to be in close proximity to each other. Beyond the Apple Watch, Cupertino’s recent hires show the company is continuing to explore this space. The Verge’s Ben Popper has been scouting around LinkedIn to find a number of key hires in the wireless space moving to Apple:
In the last four months two former uBeam engineers with expertise in wireless charging and ultrasonic technology had been hired by Apple. In fact, public LinkedIn data on Apple’s recent hires shows these former uBeam staffers were part of a much broader trend. In the last two years Apple has hired more than a dozen staffers with expertise in wireless charging.
While uBeam’s promise of wireless charging at a distance still needs to be commercially validated, my experience of wireless charging through charging pads and embedded coils in my office furniture has convinced me that this is a technology every smartphone would benefit from.
Looking back through my mobile history, the Nokia Lumia 800 was the first smartphone I had that embraced wireless charging. it used the popular Qi standard and worked not only with Nokia’s own charing pads, but any pad that used the Qi standard. It untethered me from the USB cable, and meant that the phone was always charging when sitting on my desk. Whenever I picked it up, I was good to go with the most charge possible in the handset.
While a number of other smartphones added wireless charging over the years, it didn’t really hit the mainstream public until last year’s release of the Galaxy S6 and S6 Edge. With compatibility for both wireless standards in the device, a significant volume of devices that accessory manufacturers could rely on as a target market, and Samsung’s marketing machine pushing the message, wireless charing became a mainstream feature.
From a practical point of view it took away much of the fear I had of running out of charge on the Galaxy S6 during the working day. The smartphone sat on my desk where I could see the screen, and whenever I needed to go somewhere I simply picked it up and into my pocket it went. I know the stock answer is ‘just unplug a USB cable’ but the reduced friction of charging by using wireless is immense. You either understand this, or haven’t used wireless charing in anger yet.
The flip side of that was I was incredibly conscious of the falling battery gauge when I was travelling and relying on portable USB-based charging batteries. Still, you can’t have everything, and I’m at my desk more often than I travel.
Apple already has experience with wireless charging – the Apple Watch uses an inductive charging system that removes the need for a wires connection between the device and the charger, although it does required the transmitting and receiving coils to be in close proximity to each other. Beyond the Apple Watch, Cupertino’s recent hires show the company is continuing to explore this space. The Verge’s Ben Popper has been scouting around LinkedIn to find a number of key hires in the wireless space moving to Apple:
In the last four months two former uBeam engineers with expertise in wireless charging and ultrasonic technology had been hired by Apple. In fact, public LinkedIn data on Apple’s recent hires shows these former uBeam staffers were part of a much broader trend. In the last two years Apple has hired more than a dozen staffers with expertise in wireless charging.
While uBeam’s promise of wireless charging at a distance still needs to be commercially validated, my experience of wireless charging through charging pads and embedded coils in my office furniture has convinced me that this is a technology every smartphone would benefit from.
Looking back through my mobile history, the Nokia Lumia 800 was the first smartphone I had that embraced wireless charging. it used the popular Qi standard and worked not only with Nokia’s own charing pads, but any pad that used the Qi standard. It untethered me from the USB cable, and meant that the phone was always charging when sitting on my desk. Whenever I picked it up, I was good to go with the most charge possible in the handset.
While a number of other smartphones added wireless charging over the years, it didn’t really hit the mainstream public until last year’s release of the Galaxy S6 and S6 Edge. With compatibility for both wireless standards in the device, a significant volume of devices that accessory manufacturers could rely on as a target market, and Samsung’s marketing machine pushing the message, wireless charing became a mainstream feature.
From a practical point of view it took away much of the fear I had of running out of charge on the Galaxy S6 during the working day. The smartphone sat on my desk where I could see the screen, and whenever I needed to go somewhere I simply picked it up and into my pocket it went. I know the stock answer is ‘just unplug a USB cable’ but the reduced friction of charging by using wireless is immense. You either understand this, or haven’t used wireless charing in anger yet.
The flip side of that was I was incredibly conscious of the falling battery gauge when I was travelling and relying on portable USB-based charging batteries. Still, you can’t have everything, and I’m at my desk more often than I travel.
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