Apple has joined the Wireless Power Consortium, iPhone 8 likely to feature wireless charging

William Gayde

Posts: 382   +5
Staff

Apple is now an official member of the Wireless Power Consortium. The announcement comes 3 days before the WPC's annual conference and exhibition, so Apple may have more news in the coming days. The Wireless Power Consortium is comprised of 213 companies focused on the technology's future standards, consumer adoption, and safety.

There are many such collaborations in the tech industry, but this is the first time Apple has been associated with a wireless charging group. The WPC is the group behind the Qi wireless charging standard and has many familiar household names in the organization including Samsung, LG, Nokia, Qualcomm and Asus.

There were rumors last year about Apple's interest in long distance wireless charging technologies, but they have since died out. This futuristic technology would have allowed a phone to be charged without plugging it in or placing it on a pad, but there are still many safety and power concerns to overcome. The more widely adopted Qi wireless standard uses inductive charging which means the phone must be placed on a charging pad.

This official announcement also lends truth to predictions that the upcoming iPhone 8 will have wireless charging. According to a recent report from Japanese blog Macotakara, all future generations of iPhones will feature wireless charging. Taking a line out of their laptop playbook, the wireless charger will probably be an accessory though, rather than something included in the box. Samsung's Galaxy S7 line is wireless charging ready, though you do have to buy the pad separately (found for $30-50 on Amazon -- and totally worth it).

Latest iPhone rumors point to a release of three new models with two standard successors to the iPhone 7 and one ultra high-end model with an OLED screen and a higher price tag. Stay tuned for more details and launch updates.

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Loved QI on my Nexus 4 and 5, loathed it on the Sony Z3 wireless charging cover. Half the time resulted in a drained hot device in the morning rather than a recharged device. Now with the USB-C fast charging and easier to connect cables I'm not sure wireless charging is worth the hassle. Now using a magnetic charging cable that connects to side of my Z3 so I don't have to open and close the USB socket cover all the time. No doubt by adding it to an Apple device it will be revolutionary.
 
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Wireless charging seems to be a thing at the moment although I completely fail to see why. Although my phone is capable of it, I have yet to see a more pointless "feature" or rather "novelty". All you can do is sit there and watch your phone charge, you can't even pick it up to use it. I see it as a party trick and nothing more.
 
Wireless charging seems to be a thing at the moment although I completely fail to see why. Although my phone is capable of it, I have yet to see a more pointless "feature" or rather "novelty". All you can do is sit there and watch your phone charge, you can't even pick it up to use it. I see it as a party trick and nothing more.

The main advantage I see is you are not using the lightning port so it will last longer.
 
Wireless charging seems to be a thing at the moment although I completely fail to see why. Although my phone is capable of it, I have yet to see a more pointless "feature" or rather "novelty". All you can do is sit there and watch your phone charge, you can't even pick it up to use it. I see it as a party trick and nothing more.

I would love to have a wireless charger in my office, so that I can just place my phone there when not using it, so that I have as much power as possible any time. But other than that, I see no use for it. I would not use it by the bed, since I'm likely to knock it off the charger or something like that.
 
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