Apple Developing Wireless Charging For Mobile Devices (thestack.com)

An anonymous reader writes: Apple is currently working with partners in the US and Asia to develop wireless charging for iPhone and iPad. Mobile devices with wireless charging capabilities could be released as soon as next year. Apple has not released the specific details on the range that could be available, but as far back as 2010, Apple applied for a patent to use an iMac as a wireless charging hub for distances of 1 meter. In 2014 it applied for a patent on specialized housing for a mobile device with an integrated RF antenna, which would also allow for wireless charging by helping to eliminate the problem of metallic interference with charging signals. Apple would apparently be building on these ideas to create a new iPhone or iPad that could charge further away from the hub, while continuing to be used.

Comments

been done

[Anonymous Coward]

moving on

Re:been done

[Z00L00K]

Another factor: How efficient is it - I predict a considerable transmission loss too, and in this era of energy saving dictates it might be a bad idea.

Re:been done

[Lendrick]

It's called Apple Wave.

Re:been done

[U2xhc2hkb3QgU3Vja3M]

That's one thing that's bugging me with all these wireless charging ideas. I don't care which company makes it, wasting energy for the sake of not having to connect a wire is the perfect example of "First world problem".

Engineers: Hey everyone, we figured out a way to save 5% of our energy!
Tech companies: Great, because all our new devices waste over 50% of the energy they use every day!

Re:been done

[thinkwaitfast]

I have a wireless tea kettle that seems pretty efficient. It's also very high power. There is no physical electrical contact anywhere in the system.

Re:been done

[U2xhc2hkb3QgU3Vja3M]

And how does it "seem pretty efficient" to you? Do you know exactly how much less power it would require without the wireless part?

Re:been done

[Anonymous Coward]

It is wireless in the sense that the kettle does not have a wire connected to it, the base has the wire and a special connector on which the kettle sits to make contact. So there is certainly electrical contact...

Re:been done

[Anonymous Coward]

I certainly hope you are joking.

Re:been done

[Anonymous Coward]

Plugging/unplugging leads to wear/tear... its why I use Qi and Bluetooth: I've had to replace more than a couple phones because the jacks got jacked.

Re:been done

[mikael]

Definitely get a pair of wireless headphones - no more cables for the dog to trip over, or to get pulled out when there's a sudden emergency downstairs. But the only problem is charging via USB.

Re:been done

[Cley Faye]

Assuming it is like you said, and don't have any physical connection at all (although most of these devices actually do), then it use induction.
Now the article is talking about working at ~1meter around the power source. Does your kettle work when that far away from the base?

Re:been done

[thinkwaitfast]

No, but it would if you raised the frequency above 60hz. All of this stuff is described by Maxwell's equations. More specifically, the Maxwell–Faraday equation which says an electric field is created that it proportional to the time derivative of a magnetic field.

Re:been done

[Anonymous Coward]

I am not an audiophile, but the tiny amp inside wireless headphones usually suck.

Re: been done

[bestweasel]

Never mind, all the extra electromagnetic emissions will probably not be harmful.

Re:been done

[tompaulco]

Another factor: How efficient is it - I predict a considerable transmission loss too, and in this era of energy saving dictates it might be a bad idea.

And the same people that buy electric vehicles and look down their noses at all the inferior people are the same ones that buy wireless everything and would use one of these wireless chargers.

Re:been done

[ganjadude]

sure its been done, but just like micro USB, you cant expect apple to use those common technologies. they have to have their own!!!

Re:been done

[dgatwood]

That's one thing that's bugging me with all these wireless charging ideas. I don't care which company makes it, wasting energy for the sake of not having to connect a wire is the perfect example of "First world problem".

Agreed. Apple spent the last decade making their technology more and more energy efficient. This seems like it is a step straight backwards. You still have to have a device plugged into your wall with a cable up to some sort of charging plate, so (ignoring any theoretical differences in ease of waterproofing) the sole difference between wireless charging and wired charging from a user's perspective is saving about two seconds when you get home at night, and half a second to unplug it in the morning. Even if you're only losing one or two percent, if every device did this, it would add up to real money.

I don't buy the Qi folks' argument that it makes it easier to keep it on the charger all the time, so people will do so. Apart from technology workers who sit at a desk all day, that isn't very practical. People don't leave their phone off the charger all day because it is inconvenient to plug in a cable. They leave their phone off the charger all day because they want to always have it with them, and it is too much hassle even without having to plug it in. And when you factor in the percentage of iPhone users who keep their phone in a case (and thus would get dramatically worse transfer efficiency), the entire concept seems borderline insane.

Now if you told me they were going to bundle a wireless charging station for the Apple TV remote—a device that you pick up several times an hour while in use, that you don't put in a case to protect it, and that you want to always be able to grab without worrying about whether it is charged—that would make a lot of sense. But a cell phone? It just seems like a frivolous waste of power, not to mention space inside the device. And with people already complaining about inadequate battery life, with entire industries springing up to provide pre-charged external battery packs at airports, and with even Apple getting into the external battery pack market, wasting space inside the device for a charging feature that saves at most a few seconds per day seems like just about the dumbest idea I've ever heard, with the possible exception of the rumor that they're going to remove the headphone jack....

Then again, Apple's whole charging story is making less and less sense with every passing year. My parents recently bought one of the new Apple TV models, and we were shocked when we realized that although they provide a lightning cable to charge the remote control, they didn't bother to include a USB port on the device to plug that cable into. So unless you have some other device to use as a charger, when you get an Apple TV in the mail, the very first thing you have to do is go out to the store and drop another twenty bucks on a charger that Apple should have provided as part of the device for a unit cost of maybe five cents....

Re:been done

[Anonymous Coward]

And a good thing too. Micro USB is total shit. I can't count how many of those connectors have broken on me. Lightning cables are at least sturdy enough on the connector side. Thankfully it looks like the new USB 3.1 connector solves a lot of the failure issues micro USB has had. Plus, like lightning, it's reversible.

Re:been done

[BronsCon]

Funny, my wife has snapped two Lightning connectors and I've snapped one, but all of my micro USB connectors outlive the cables they're attached to. Must be a quality control issue with the 50 cent cables you buy?

Re:been done

[Rockoon]

I am not an audiophile, but the tiny amp inside wireless headphones usually suck.

Stop buying the cheapest pair on the rack.

Re: been done

[Anonymous Coward]

If you're aware of Maxwell's equations, how come you are an unemployed hobo getting your income from spamming Slashdot threads with Amazon ref links, making false claims of magical properties in the products you try to push?

Re: been done

[chispito]

My tea kettle doesn't have any wires either and also doesn't physically touch the power source.

Re:been done

[thegarbz]

Even the most expensive pair can't hold a hand to a set of affordable top of the line headphones. That's the thing, you can spend $500 on an okay set of wireless headphones, or you can spend $500 on about the best headphones money can buy. You're making compromises regardless of how much money you spend.

I have both types. But I only use the wireless set for watching TV at night.

Re:been done

[thegarbz]

I don't care which company makes it, wasting energy for the sake of not having to connect a wire is the perfect example of "First world problem".

This is a cop-out excuse that can be likened to the no-child-left-behind policy. Just because we're not in the 3rd world doesn't mean we should abandon search for new efficiencies. The results can always be weighed up in a cost-benefit analysis. Would I buy a wireless charging dock just to keep my phone charged at work? No, waste of money, no real benefit. Do I have one at home on my bedside table? Yep. Because fumbling for a damn charger at 1am without waking someone else or attempting to silence an alarm without my arm getting caught in a cable tangle is worth it.

I other news I also "waste" energy by powering an energy monitor, by not switching my TV off at the wall (It takes a tad over 1min to boot up), and with a sensor based nightlight so I don't trip on crap dueing a 2am toilet run after a night out. But kicking my toe can also be considered a "First world problem" so we shouldn't put any effort into solving it right?

Re: been done

[jofas]

You obviously have never used a wireless charger. They are definitely more convenient. And the wasted power argument is silly when compared to other gadgets (50" tvs).

Re:been done

[The-Ixian]

Interesting.

I have never broken a micro USB cable despite tripping over them many times.

I have, however, broken 2 lightning cables with very little force, the paddle (piece with the conductors on either side) breaks off easily.

You are giving up sturdiness (metal housing in a trapezoidal shape protecting the conductors) for convenience (no metal housing which allows reversible plug).

Re:been done

[Anonymous Coward]

You expect Apple to give you anything for free? Really? Their entire business model is based on making users pay for what others give for free or include in the box.

Re:been done

[Anonymous Coward]

or you can spend $500 on about the best headphones money can buy
 
You don't know much about headphones, do you?
 
Granted, for 500usd you can easily pick up a pair of Seenheiser HD650s and that's about as much as an adult with reasonable average hearing can expect as far as definition anyway but even at that you're still going to need either and amp or a receiver that is beefy due to low impedance. And the 20 dollar radio shack headphone amp isn't going to cut it. You can get something passable for 200-300 dollars.
 
And if you really have better than average hearing even the HD650 cans don't cut it. There really isn't a lot in the landscape for less than 1200 dollars at that point. Anyone who claims to be an audiophile who can't tell the difference between a 500 dollar set of headphones and a 1500 dollar set of headphones is living in a fantasy land.

Re: been done

[dgatwood]

The wasted power argument isn't silly. Yes, there's a lot of power waste that I could shave off elsewhere. I'm not one of those people who puts mechanical power switches on their TVs to save a few dollars a year or anything. But when I buy electronics, I do expect manufacturers to do their best to minimize power consumption, within reason, and I actually have replaced equipment when I determined that the power savings would pay for the replacement in under 5 years, so as a consumer I do at least pay some attention to power consumption. It isn't the most important thing, but it isn't unimportant, particularly when my marginal power rate is almost 35 cents per kWh.

More importantly, I'm savvy enough to understand that every device in my house wastes some amount of power, and when I upgrade equipment, I expect the new equipment to be at least as efficient as whatever it replaced, and to always exhibit lower idle power consumption. Whenever technology goes the opposite direction, there had better be a darn good reason why, and saving two seconds when I plug my phone in at night doesn't qualify as a darn good reason to me.

As for convenience, as I said, it takes all of two seconds to plug my phone into a charger when I get home at night. To me, any convenience argument is silly, because the difference in convenience between a charging pad on my bedside table and a bare cord is so slight.

Re:been done

[Anonymous Coward]

If the common technology is garbage, why not make something better that addresses the faults in the common technology?

I don't need to charge some other phone with my wireless phone charger, I need to charge mine. If yours doesn't work with it, get out of my fucking bedroom before I get the shotgun.

Re:been done

[Anonymous Coward]

"I don't buy the Qi folks' argument that it makes it easier to keep it on the charger all the time, so people will do so. Apart from technology workers who sit at a desk all day, that isn't very practical. People don't leave their phone off the charger all day because it is inconvenient to plug in a cable. They leave their phone off the charger all day because they want to always have it with them, and it is too much hassle even without having to plug it in. And when you factor in the percentage of iPhone users who keep their phone in a case (and thus would get dramatically worse transfer efficiency), the entire concept seems borderline insane."

except that you are at your home and your phone is motionless for at-least 5 hours a day (while your sleeping). So when i am home, my phone goes on my charging pad unless i receive a call (which i pick up the phone or put it on speaker phone) for any other computational usage i have a laptop. so while yes it is a first world problem, while i am in my home, my phone goes on the charging pad, next to my keys and wallet (all typically things that i don't use in the house, but require when i step out the door. Do i find it more convenient that i just drop my phone down and then just pick it up while going in and out of the house? hells yeah!

In conclusion please do not assume that everyone uses their devices exactly like you do. or make any assumptions about how anyone uses their devices because we are not all the same and thus do not all have the same requirements.

and its not wasted space if you use it, in conclusion, we are not all the same, it would be nice if people would really understand this! not everyone needs the same devices and not everyone can use the same device as everyone else. stop trying to make people conform to your view of the world because it will never happen. there are people who use these features, and people who these features are useful for. just because you are not one of them does not mean that no one else is.

Re:been done

[Fetko]

Yeah, I fully expect them to invent and trademark some new type of force to accommodate this. Electromagnetic won't possibly do for an Apple product.

Re:been done

[Anonymous Coward]

Are you sure it is a wireless connection? That isn't the claim that is made on the page you linked to. My kettle has a base with similar design and and there are actual contacts in the base which are designed to allow the kettle to rotate while still maintaining a physical electrical connection.

health concerns

[SumDog]

I remember seeing that experiment in high school with a Tesla coil powering a tube light without having to touch it. Aren't there health concerns with that much electricity in the air though?

Re:health concerns

[110010001000]

Nothing that wrapping yourself in tinfoil won't prevent.

Re:health concerns

[U2xhc2hkb3QgU3Vja3M]

Well, Tesla's dead. That's all the proof I need.

Re:health concerns

[Anonymous Coward]

Alumiunum foil is very handy, I wrap my wifi router antennas (behind them) with it. It really does improve the signal strength (I am not joking :) ).

Re:health concerns

[Anonymous Coward]

We've got aluminum wall insulation. Keeps the room nice and warm and boosts the wi-fi signal for the router. Not so good for the mobile phone though.

Re:health concerns

[Oliver Wendell Jones]

And we're done here...

Re:health concerns

[ChunderDownunder]

Scroll down the front page.

Only a few hours ago, someone was demanding Apple release a "killer" device.

Re:health concerns

[thegarbz]

Well the inside of a nuclear reactor is also dangerous to your health but you're no so concerned about some background radiation from eating a banana are you? There's a big difference in scale between energising the air enough to light up a flouro tube and charge a small mobile phone. Even if the former was some kind of major health risk.

Re:health concerns

[Anonymous Coward]

These guys hame the same problems as with any device using strong RF electromagnetic fields. The antenna will induce strong currents in looping cables and with high enough power can actually cause fire hazard due to heating effects in lossy insulators in the uncontrolled environment called "home". Ask anyone involved in Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) of their safety concerns.

For humans the healt problems are related to rf induced SAS (specific absorption rate, unit W/kg) in sensitive tissues. The problems are directly proprotional to the amount of power to be transmitted and will be worst at positions either very close to the transmission antenna or close to positions of high rf electrical field.

There are strict rules about exposure to electromagnetic fields. It is very difficult to do wireless charging across a long air gap (more than the width of a single finger) without hitting the limits.

Let me guess...

[110010001000]

....its going to be colored white.

Re:Let me guess...

[sims 2]

Eventually but it will be delayed several months while they try to get the shade of white right.

Re:Let me guess...

[gstoddart]

Well, let me remind you ... the first companies to make black CPU cases, keyboards and mice for standard PCs had people buying it because everything had been beige before that.

Never underestimate how "wow, that looks cool" can be a factor with buying decisions. And never forget that at one point black PCs became super cool.

I remember a bunch of people standing around a new all black Dell going "ooh" and "aaah" over it.

Which meant the original iMac people went crazy over when you could get it in orange.

Apparently, consumers value this kind of stuff, and companies are willing to oblige.

Apple Wireless Charging

[maxrate]

INNOVATION

Re:Apple Wireless Charging

[Anonymous Coward]

Well, they make it have rounded corners, PANATONE colours and that famous Apple logo. Then every year they put a new number on the box.

Apple has lost their way and is on the decline in "innovation".

Whatever happened that liquid metal technology they purchased? I see no Terminators yet.

Re:Apple Wireless Charging

[Anonymous Coward]

Apple is looking on a new technology for distance charging of a wireless device – rather than placing the phone on a charging mat, a customer can actually walk around with the device, using it while it charges.

Are there any phones on the market that can do this?

Re:Apple Wireless Charging

[aaron4801]

Obligatory XKCD

Re:Apple Wireless Charging

[Anonymous Coward]

"Pantone", not "PANATONE". Stop yelling, and spell it right.

Re:Apple Wireless Charging

[Anonymous Coward]

Lol not true. The amount of electricity wasted and the possible health repercussions of it would make it a nonstarter. That line is nothing more then a mac fags wet dream.

Re:Apple Wireless Charging

[Anonymous Coward]

Health repercussions? What health repercussions? It's not even RF!

Re:Apple Wireless Charging

[BarbaraHudson]

Neither are the emissions from high voltage lines.

Re:Apple Wireless Charging

[MobileTatsu-NJG]

INNOVATION

... he said after touching his thumb to the home button of his smartphone to read Slashdot.

Re:Apple Wireless Charging

[Anonymous Coward]

Actually, I used a Microsoft 950XL Windows Phone with facial recognition AND wireless charging built in I might add!

Re:Apple Wireless Charging

[ClaraBow]

Yes, but you have to put your phone on a charging pad. This is not what Apple are working on accomplishing. Please RTFA -- thank you :)

Re:Apple Wireless Charging

[Anonymous Coward]

PANATONE is the innovative Apple version of select colors.

Re:Apple Wireless Charging

[Anonymous Coward]

INNOVATION

... he said after touching his thumb to the home button of his smartphone to read Slashdot.

Touching the home button would take you to the home screen, where I doubt Slashdot would be...

Re:Apple Wireless Charging

[MobileTatsu-NJG]

Touch, not push.

Re:Apple Wireless Charging

[MachineShedFred]

Thank you for showing off the Slashdot Way. Bash Apple when they don't include a marginally useful feature, and then when they include it, bash them for being late to the party with a marginally useful feature.

Re:Apple Wireless Charging

[MachineShedFred]

And I'm sure that Apple's solution will be running a 600KV line through your bedroom.

Wait, scale matters?

Re:Apple Wireless Charging

[BarbaraHudson]

I guess you don't know that emissions drop at the 3rd power of distance. That's why my original moto flip-phone was able to cause radiation burns when in my jean pocket, even though it was far lower power than my microwave.

Re:Apple Wireless Charging

[Plumpaquatsch]

Thank you for showing off the Slashdot Way. Bash Apple when they don't include a marginally useful feature, and then when they include it, bash them for being late to the party with a marginally useful feature.

And then do it again >3 years later - http://apple.slashdot.org/stor...

Snapple

[Anonymous Coward]

It will be incompatible with everything else on the market and the drones will hail Apple as the first one to bring it to market, oh and it will be inefficient as fark and make peoples metal dental work buzz.

Re:Snapple

[sims 2]

I think it will be good because ive yet to see a non pad type wireless charger in the wild. However I worry about apples rabid lawyers who will probbably sue anyone who try's to make anything similar.

Anyone remember the magsafe connectors? Very few other companies are using similar connections even today.

Decent magsafe type headphone and power connectors for other devices are just now starting to come out this year and I've yet to see any of those in person either.

Re: Snapple

[Anonymous Coward]

Apple didn't licence the magsafe patent, so no one else can use it. Except deep fat friers and other equipment which had such connectors long before Apple put them on a laptop.

Re: Snapple

[ArmoredDragon]

Apple didn't invent it either, they just bought the company that did.

Re:Snapple

[mikael]

I once got a titanium drill bit stuck in my tooth at a university dental clinic. Didn't hear any radio stations (at least not when awake or asleep), but my tooth would heat up when I used the mobile phone.

Re:Snapple

[Barbarian]

It will be incompatible with everything else on the market and the drones will hail Apple as the first one to bring it to market, oh and it will be inefficient as fark and make peoples metal dental work buzz.

It will be 5% efficient, the other 95% will be lost to the reality distortion field.

Re:Snapple

[AmazingRuss]

MagSafe seems like the ideal solution... but it isn't shiny and new.

Re: Snapple

[Anonymous Coward]

Google didn't create Android either, they just bought the company that did.

Your point?

Why this is special

[JonathanF]

For those who'll say "it's been done before:" no, not like this.

Current wireless charging amounts to dropping your device on a pad. You can't grab your device to use it (since you'll break the power link), and of course this limits just where your device can sit.

The Slashdot post (and the source link) undersells the story. Here, Apple would have wireless charging that doesn't depend on resting the device on a contact pad -- you'd just have to get within range of the charger. Imagine plunking down your iPhone anywhere on your desk and knowing that it'll top up. This kind of technology has been discussed for a while, but hasn't really been implemented on a practical level.

Re:Why this is special

[Gavagai80]

Perhaps a more interesting application than the charging-on-any-desk-that-has-an-iMac would be a car which charges any phone present in it.

Re:Why this is special

[93 Escort Wagon]

For those who'll say "it's been done before:" no, not like this.

Yeah, one of my coworkers has a wireless charging Android phone of some sort, and every time someone bumps his desk it "breaks".

That said, given Apple's track record the past half-decade (in my experience, at least), I wouldn't be surprised if their offering is terribly buggy as well - at least at the software end of things.

Re:Why this is special

[sims 2]

It would be extremely shortsighted for apple to make it an iMac exclusive. Although I wouldn't put it past them.

Hoping it lives up to the hype. It's 2016 and everyone seems to have "hover boards" that neither hover or resemble boards. Lets not make the same mistake with wireless charging. Just say no to pad type.

Re:Why this is special

[hawguy]

For those who'll say "it's been done before:" no, not like this.

Yeah, one of my coworkers has a wireless charging Android phone of some sort, and every time someone bumps his desk it "breaks".

That said, given Apple's track record the past half-decade (in my experience, at least), I wouldn't be surprised if their offering is terribly buggy as well - at least at the software end of things.

I think I'd be more annoyed at people repeatedly bumping my desk hard enough to make my stuff slide around than I would at having to reposition my phone on the charger. Though I just tried it with my desk - my charger is "sticky" enough to grip the phone so when I bump the desk hard enough, the charger and phone slide together, the phone doesn't slide off the charger.

Re:Why this is special

[Jeremi]

Imagine plunking down your iPhone anywhere on your desk and knowing that it'll top up.

I'm imagining sitting down at my desk with my iPhone in my pocket, and having my balls microwaved. I think I'm not going to be a beta-tester for this one.

Re:Why this is special

[thinkwaitfast]

I built a crystal radio when I was a kid. It's a normal radio, but runs the antenna through a diode to rectify the energy to power the radio and speaker. This is the exact same concept unless some new laws of physics have been found. Instead of powering the speaker (earphone), charge a battery instead.

Re:Why this is special

[unencode200x]

Cool. That could microwave your balls though.

Re:Why this is special

[AmiMoJo]

Intel demoed something similar a few years ago, running a monitor with wireless power. It's less impressive than it sounds, as they were really only sending maybe 10W maximum, probably less.

Any more and it gets dangerous. Even the paltry amount they managed is problematic. If Apple really has cracked this it would be a major breakthrough, which is why I'm sceptical.

Re:Why this is special

[irrational_design]

Birth Control - It's a feature!

Re:Why this is special

[George_Ou]

WiTricity has been demoing the only feasible technology (resonant inductive power transfer) since 2009. They can actually reach out a few feet without worrying about getting blocked by clothing or body parts or orientation of the receiver. But the media has forgotten them in favor of utterly unworkable solutions like Ultrasonic Power Transfer which can't go through objects and require exact receiver orientation and alignment to work. https://www.ted.com/talks/eric...

The challenge is whether WiTricity can deliver useful range range and sufficiently shrink the receivers to be thin enough to be in a smartphone. Useful range is likely a few feet which means it's much shorter than a typical cable. We're also looking at a minimum of 50% losses which might be acceptable for a smartphone, but we know there are plenty of people who have no qualms charging their 400 watt HDTV or 40000 watt car like this.

The real revolution we're seeing in smartphone charging is USB-C with a higher Power Deliver profile. Next generation Samsung phones coming out can be charged in around 20 minutes which means a charge rate of 3C. Batteries can be pushed up to 5C to get charge times times down to 12 minutes which means 6 minutes can fill up most semi-discharged smartphones. Fast charging is far more useful than being stuck in a 3-foot area for 2 hours waiting for the phone to fill up.

Re: Why this is special

[Anonymous Coward]

Except companies have already demonstrated this, and most cell companies don't bother with the tech because of the limitations:

Line of sight? Charge speed / efficiency? (inverse square law: further you get away, the exponentially more power needed).

The principles are all the same: use sound you can't hear or light you can't see. Neither is anywhere near as efficient as magnetic induction

Re:Why this is special

[Jesus_666]

While I agree that desk-wide wireless charging is neat I have to wonder how this would impact battery longevity. Sit down at the desk, that's another charge cycle. Still a cool thing, though.

Re:Why this is special

[Anonymous Coward]

Great, so ... what if I am in range of the charger too? Do my Christmass tree light up?

Re:Why this is special

[ClaraBow]

Funny!

Re:Why this is special

[swb]

I thought topping off charges didn't completely count when judging lithium battery charge cycles. I seldom discharge my phone lower than 75% and when it's been retired after 3-some years, it still holds a decent charge.

My understanding was that topping up a lithium battery was good; it was a more complete discharge that added wear cycles to it. Obviously this isn't true forever but better than lots of charge and deep discharge cycles.

Re: Why this is special

[BronsCon]

This. If I'm not mistaken, assuming 65% conversion efficiency (about the best you can hope for with these kings of systems) at the phone, this thing would have to transmit about 3.5kW to get 10.5W (2.1A @ 5v) into the phone at 1 meter. And that's if the transmitter is 100% efficient. So, about 30A at 120v? Yikes. The average microwave can cook your dinner with 1/3 as much power.

Re: Why this is special

[Anonymous Coward]

True, but this tech would be suited for keeping your phone charged up while at your desk so you can pick it up for calls/texts and it will stay charging until you leave for lunch, head to the field, or home for the day.

Re:Why this is special

[AmiMoJo]

Funny you should mention efficiency and fast charging in the same post. Fast charging is less efficient than slow charging, and also shortens battery life. Once you add in the energy wasted making/recycling batteries, suddenly Qi short range wireless charging doesn't look so bad.

I actually keep a slow, 500mA charger around at home for overnight charging. Makes my phone batteries last longer than nightly charging at 1.5A.

Re:Why this is special

[KGIII]

I hope that is a work desk, that you're in a cubical, and that you tried varied amounts of force. It's not that I don't like you, or anything. I just have this picture of people staring at you as if you're a lunatic and it'd be disappointing were it not true.

Re:Why this is special

[Altus]

I don't think the gp intended to imply that but given things I have seen from Apple before I would expect this to be built into their desktops at least. So that they can charge wireless keyboards and mice

Re:Why this is special

[hawguy]

I hope that is a work desk, that you're in a cubical, and that you tried varied amounts of force. It's not that I don't like you, or anything. I just have this picture of people staring at you as if you're a lunatic and it'd be disappointing were it not true.

Cubicle? That's so 1990's, no one has cubicles anymore. It's just one big open area at work.

but i performed this experiment on my cheap sit-stand desk at home, it's not super stable at full extension, so it's easy to hit it hard enough to move stuff around.

The $1200 desk at work is a lot more stable than my $250 home desk, so it would take a much more substantial hit to get stuff to slide around.

Re:Why this is special

[sims 2]

I hadn't even thought of that.

Yes I know the current gen of keyboards and mice run for months between battery changes but still.

Not sure why you would need them to charge. Why not remove the battery entirely then? usable range should be well within the charging area.

Htpc maybe?

Re:Why this is special

[KGIII]

My work desk used to be one that I picked up at auction. Oh, you know the exact type. It was a government worker's desk (probably secretarial) made during WWII. It had the slide out parts (in the center and on the right) and drawers on both sides. One drawer is a bit different in height. It has a rack for holding folders. It has to be 500 pounds worth of steel.

It was *at least* owned by a government official and a school system before I owned it. It took three men and a boy to move it. If you could use it as a weapon, you'd be a bad ass. It still had its original paint job. Some stupid kid (presumably named TIMMY - and not the same one as our dear Timmy - again, a presumption) etched his name INSIDE the center drawer. I presume they were caught and punished for their behavior. If you're gonna do bad things, sign it with someone else's name.

You'd probably have to hit it with a Yugo to make something fall off it or even move. You might even need to get that Yugo up to speed. If I had to pick between riding the desk or riding in the Yugo, for this accident, I'd probably pick to be strapped onto the desk. It was made at a time that the people seemed inclined to think that they'd be using them as shields vs. automatic rifles. I own a lot of firearms. Some rounds would, in fact, be stopped by this desk at certain angles. If you're gonna hide behind a desk during a firefight, this might be the desk to do so.

I did not take my desk with me. I was not going to move my desk. I never, ever, changed offices after that desk was moved into the office. I do not know if that desk is still in that office - the building is still there. Somewhere, I do not know where, this desk surely still exists. The only way to destroy this desk involves heavy duty cutting material and a bunch of heat. I'm still not sure that the desk won't hold out for quite some time.

Re:Why this is special

[Agripa]

My understanding was that topping up a lithium battery was good; it was a more complete discharge that added wear cycles to it. Obviously this isn't true forever but better than lots of charge and deep discharge cycles.

The irreversible damage occurs at both high and low voltage. If the battery capacity is limited to between say the 80% and 20% charge points, then the total energy delivered for a given decrease in capacity goes up so many shallow discharges are better than fewer deep discharges if they occur toward the middle of the capacity curve. Maintaining the battery charge state closer to 100% lowers the useful lifetime (lithium metal plates out?) but this effect is usually small compared to capacity lost do to general use. It would be more important in standby applications.

Supercapacitors also degrade at high voltage; in their case, increasing the voltage by 0.2 volts lowers the operating life by 10 times. Offhand I do not know what the equivalent specification is for lithium secondary cells.

Re:Why this is special

[Altus]

I would guess they would just be powered by this system, maybe with a small backup battery for hick ups in the power flow if necessary.

Tesla. Heinlein's Waldo.

[Catbeller]

It's an old idea, expanded on greatly by Robert Heinlein in "Waldo", in which the whole world was powered wireless, including spaceships.
It's telling how much Edison and Westinghouse buried Tesla's work for a century. God, they hated that man.

Re:Tesla. Heinlein's Waldo.

[thinkwaitfast]

Not only Edison, but I got an electrical engineering degree and Tesla was not mentioned once. Neither was Edison for that matter. Same in all the physics classes that I took.

Re:Tesla. Heinlein's Waldo.

[Anonymous Coward]

At what shitty "university" did they never mentioned the Tesla?

Re:Tesla. Heinlein's Waldo.

[Anonymous Coward]

The Carl-Friedrich-Gauß School?

Re:Tesla. Heinlein's Waldo.

[Anonymous Coward]

While he's a notable fellow in the world of electronics he's simply not the nucleus of innovation that most make him out to be. If you take the pains of reading about the technology that most give him credit for instead of the man they give the credit to you'll see that most of what is credited to his is far from true and even the things he should be noted for aren't that far ahead of the curve compared to where others were. Funny how fast people are to dismiss anyone from the era who isn't Tesla as a fraud when the reality is that Tesla's incremental improvements are even questionable in the fact of the engineering culture of the time.

In all reality the only outstanding "inventions" that can even somewhat be assigned to Telsa are the coil that bears his name and 3 phase induction motors. And even with the three phase you need to really stretch to squarely give the credit to Tesla.

Fanboy if you want be he really just isn't that big of a deal. Too many people treat him in the same light that they treat WWII in global history. No, just no.

Re:Tesla. Heinlein's Waldo.

[Anonymous Coward]

Amazon referral link, or it didn't happen.

I hope someone does it soon

[unencode200x]

I'm so sick of the 15,000 wires that break, wall warts (whoever came up with that name should be given warts), and all that crap. A matt to place things on or some magnetic thing or whatever would be great. Of course, it has to still leave room for my girls to use the cases they want and bling out their phones.

Re:I hope someone does it soon

[Anonymous Coward]

wall warts (whoever came up with that name should be given warts)

Probably the same guy who came up with 'blog'.

Re:I hope someone does it soon

[BarbaraHudson]

So instead of plugging a charger into your phone, you plug the charger into the mat. Seems to me that the mat is useless clutter.

Re:I hope someone does it soon

[dgatwood]

I'm so sick of the 15,000 wires that break ...

You know, I can't remember the last time I had a power cord break that wasn't made by Apple, but I've had a fair number of those break. Try third-party cables. The Amazon cables really are a lot more robust.

Re:I hope someone does it soon

[BronsCon]

Magsafe chargers are the worst! I seem to need a new one every year, meanwhile I've never once replaced a PC laptop charger due to cord wear, and I use my PC and Mac laptops roughly equally. I keep spares of both around, for convenience; one at my desk, one in the bedroom, and one in the living room (and for travel), which is a really good thing since, as I said, I seem to need to replace at least one Magsafe per year.

Re:I hope someone does it soon

[dgatwood]

There's a wide range of MagSafe cables, with widely varying robustness:

• The first generation (with the straight plug) was really flaky in my experience in terms of the lights not working and the device sometimes not charging, but had a reasonably low rate of outright failure.
• The first L-style MagSafe cables for the MacBook Air were horrible, in my experience. None of them lasted more than a few months for me.
• The L-style MagSafe cables for the MacBook Pro (particularly the 85W model) seem to be a lot better than either of those previous generations. I haven't broken any yet.
• The MagSafe 2 power supplies don't feel as robust as the previous generation, but I haven't broken any yet.

With that said, none of them rise to the level of "good", much less "great". Presumably in an effort to reduce the power filtering hardware inside the computer itself, Apple used a shielded two-wire cable. So even though the outer jacket is amazingly tough, the wires inside have to be pretty small or else the shield and outer jacket would be ridiculously unwieldy. This means that there are fewer strands, so the wires fail sooner, and there's less insulation around each wire, resulting in a higher probability of shorting out against the shield than if they were larger (and infinitely higher than if there were no shield to begin with).

What can Apple do to fix the problem? A simple three-step solution would go a long way towards fixing it:

• Consolidate the entire power supply line down to one model per wattage rating (or fewer) for both MagSafe and MagSafe 2.
• Instead of hard-wiring the cable into the power supply, put a jack (e.g. 1/8" stereo) on the power supply and a plug on the other end of the cord.
• Sell replacement cords at around $10 apiece.

This won't fix the breakage, but replacing a $10 cable will be a heck of a lot more palatable to customers than buying an entire $80 power supply just to replace a $10 cable. It will also decrease the number of SKUs that they have to keep on hand, and (assuming they use a standard connector for the other end) will also make it possible for third parties to build alternative power supplies for Macs (including external batteries) without having to resort to horrible hacks like cutting the wires off of Apple power supplies and soldering connectors onto them.

More significantly, because they wouldn't have to rev the entire power supply every time they tweak the cables, the lower overhead of improving them might result in faster iteration towards something that's more reliable. For example, they might use a slightly larger plug with a small filter cap inside it. That way they could maintain backwards compatibility with hardware that lacks sufficient filtering, while allowing them to move to a more traditional, bonded two-wire cable without a shield (or, if they really feel the need to provide a ground that is separate from the negative side of the DC, a bonded three-wire cable). I suspect that this would fix the breakage problem entirely.

Re: I hope someone does it soon

[BronsCon]

I don't have experience with the 1st gen Magsafe, so I can't commebt on that. My rMBP just turnes 1 year old this month, though, and while I'm still on the firt spoer supply (and using the Magsafe to Magsafe 2 adapter to make use of my wife's power supplies in order to limit the overall number of failure-prone devices), the jacket has severely yellowed and recently started to brown around the last 2 inches or so of cable. The L shaped Magsafe seem to fail left and right, with the newer ones seemingly beong the least reliable; the origibal power supplyfrom my wife's now-retired 17in MBP survived longest of all, having been cut and repaired several times before internal shorting in the cable finally killed it at just over 3 years of age. We maintain 4 Mac power supplies between us, the Magsafe 2 at my desk, and an L Magsafe at her desk, in the bedroom, and in the living room. Having had 3 L Magsafe units on hand constantly for the past 4 ears, I've bought a total of 4, in addition to the 3 that came with MacBooks and MacBook Pros we've bought; we have 3 that "work" (one has had cable repairs made and another is in need, both from failing and crumbling jackets near the connector), which means we have had 4 fail. Really, we've had 6 fail, but 2 of those are still... useable. But the PC power supplies exhibit no such issues... and we have many more of those around and abuse them quite a bit.

I do think Apple could do better, as you say, with replaceable cables; however, then they would only be selling a $2 cable at an $8 markup, rather than a $10 unit at a $70 markup, which we know is certainly not the Apple way.

Re: I hope someone does it soon

[dgatwood]

My rMBP just turnes 1 year old this month, though, and while I'm still on the firt spoer supply (and using the Magsafe to Magsafe 2 adapter to make use of my wife's power supplies in order to limit the overall number of failure-prone devices), the jacket has severely yellowed and recently started to brown around the last 2 inches or so of cable.

Take it to an Apple store ASAP. If it really is that new, they should replace the supply under warranty. That yellowing indicates massive overheating, probably caused by a partial break of the insulation between the hot wire and the shield, resulting in arcing internally within the cable. This is potentially dangerous (fire risk), so you should stop using the cord immediately and get it replaced.

That brings back memories of the yo-yo power supplies for the PowerBook G3 series, early iBooks, and maybe early PowerBook G4s. At some point, I discovered a smoky haze on one of mine, and ignored it. Later, I saw it plugged in with the overhead lights off, and you could actually see the electrical arcs through the clear cable jacket. It was pretty cool looking, but needless to say, I stopped using that cord.

Re: I hope someone does it soon

[BronsCon]

Good call. I've unplugged it and will take it in this weekend. Thanks!

For the record, that's been the failure mode of 3 of the 4 failed L shape plugs, as well; the 4th was the one that had the cord sliced (caught in the workings of a recliner) and repaired twice, which worked fine for 2 years after the last repair before the supply itself gave up the ghost rather uneventfully. That one just stopped working in the middle of a work day, I noticed when my screen dimmed, wasn't hot or anything, not even warm, just dead. And I'm starting to notice some insulation crumble near the connector on the one L shaped plug I have that hasn't already been patched up... just noticed it earlier today... lovely. So that's a 100% fault rate, then, even if 4 of 8 (I said 7 earlier because I wasn't including the Magsafe 2) still technically "work". Quality.

Re: I hope someone does it soon

[BronsCon]

Oh and "firt spoer" is the result of typing a reply on my phone while squinting after just waking up... and autocorrect apparently thinking those are both words. Thank you for not pointing it out...

Efficiency?

[Ubi_NL]

Whats the percental loss of energy when the device is so far away? Similar to the loss in sound volume?

Re:Efficiency?

[Anonymous Coward]

worse - radiative power falls of as 1/r^2. Typically these things work though dipolar coupling , which decays
as 1/r^3. Perhaps they are aiming at an enormous antenna - but then what do you do when you travel...
a little cable is much more easy to pack than a large pad/antenna

Obligatory

[penguinoid]

1. Develop a way to charge them wirelessly.
2. ???
3. Profit!

Someone tell them they're late

[Anonymous Coward]

Already "done/in development" http://airfuel.org/

Special cables?

[DogDude]

I doubt that Apple is going to do wireless charging. They make a FORTUNE from all of the rubes that have to buy their special cables.

Re: Special cables?

[Anonymous Coward]

2016 is the year of the Linux Desktop. Book it!!!!

100% waterproof

[ljw1004]

Imagine a phone with NO ports. It uses wireless for charging. It uses Bluetooth for headphones. It uses wifi/cellular for voice and data. The battery isn't user-servicable. It doesn't need any ports. It could be manufactured in a factory-sealed seamless she'll for guaranteed waterproofing.

(except: I don't know how you'd do microphone or speakers...)

Re:100% waterproof

[Anonymous Coward]

Piezoelectric transducers

So...

[Stormy Dragon]

How long before tech journalists all start talking about how Apple "invented" wireless charging in 2016 and accusing Qi or Powermat systems of just copying Apple's brilliant idea?

Re:So...

[stoborrobots]

And WiTricity...

Re:So...

[avandesande]

They haven't had the outrageous markup and rounded edges treatment.

Re:So...

[Anubis IV]

The difference here is that Apple's purported solution requires no physical contact with the device. No mat, no pad, just use your device anywhere within the range of the charger and it'll charge wirelessly, over-the-air.

They certainly didn't invent it, and it isn't innovative at this point, but if they're the first ones to put it into widespread use, they'll likely reap a lot of well-deserved credit in the media.

Re:So...

[Anonymous Coward]

About as long as it takes a bunch of "geeks" to claim that Tesla invented AC and a deathray or that Musk invented the EV.

But don't you dare show them that they're wrong.... they'll mod you down for talking trash on their demigod.

Re:So...

[The-Ixian]

If Apple builds the technology in to a platform which already has widespread use, then that technology will have widespread use as well... It doesn't say anything else about the technology however (whether or not it is good, or even if it is useful).

It's like saying IE was the best browser because it was so widely used for a time... but that was only because it was the default browser on the dominant (at the time) platform.

Re:So...

[Anubis IV]

It's like saying IE was the best browser because it was so widely used for a time

Correlation != causation. Contrary to your reading, I neither suggested nor implied that things are good because they're widespread. Rather, I spent a paragraph explaining the differentiating factor for this technology and then suggested that a company stood to gain by getting it to market first. Which is true. Having widespread use is necessary, but by no means is it causative, nor does being widespread mean they're better.

In fact, the reason I specified "widespread" was not because I was making the value judgement that "more = better" (which is what you seem to have inferred), but rather because I was suggesting that "more widespread = more relevant". While you or I may be interested in neat technologies like over-the-air wireless charging, it's utterly irrelevant to Everyday Joes until they can get their hands on it. As such, component companies putting together neat little demos are one thing, but it's something else entirely when the technology is in a device that anyone can buy. That sort of news is worth of a lot more attention in the general media, which is what I was saying.

Possibly alongside Eneregous?

[xyankee]

Energeous (NASDAQ: WATT) has been working on some innovative wireless charging tech for a few years. What's cool about them is that they IPO'd to raise funds (effectively) so there's a lot of behind-the-scenes info you can glean from their SEC filings that you normally don't see with a small startup.

They've been working with a Tier 1 provider for a while. They haven't disclosed who. But they're based down the road from Cupertino...

The stock already jumped Friday on this news, but it's still trading below its moving average.

Circumvention Device

[Anonymous Coward]

...so this is how Apple will circumvent the pending regulatory issue of a mandatory, standardized charger and connector? By dropping the connector? Makes sense. It's the Apple way.

Win win for apple fanbois

[Anonymous Coward]

The other advantage is that it fries your balls, saving money on the op.

Does this not waste energy?

[Anonymous Coward]

Almost in every case I have read wireless charging waste energy and the further apart the device is from the charger the less efficient it becomes. Is this really such a problem that needed to be solved in the first place? Also, these wireless charging designs all seem to have a proprietary aspect to their design. I am almost sure that Apple's design won't work with Samsung's and also the other way. I've seen other tests in wireless powering of other devices where energy losses are just too big to justify the convenience. Stands to reason, that any air gap will create resistance and therefore you need to over come that. But unfortunately the latest trends seem to be working towards wireless everything these days. Apple is also eliminating the 3.5mm jack which most likely means wireless only headphones.
Again, not really the best way but apparently the wireless way.

The Wrong Problem

[Anonymous Coward]

I am old. I remember when 4 function calculators took 8 AA batteries and lasted about a day. Now scientific calculators have button batteries to keep the memory alive until the next solar availability (maybe days!).

Make the phones so they don't need constant charging!

Many of the android phones have had wireless charging. It works, but you need pads everywhere (home, work, car, etc). Then Qualcom had a quick charging mode that was pretty good. Now most of the top of the line phones have quick charging capabilities, so no one cares about wireless charging. Plug a phone in for 15 or 20 minutes and go about your day. When you get to sit down again, another 15 or 20 minutes and you are good for a few more hours.

Apple is addressing the wrong problem. Wireless charging will never be efficient enough to be handy.