The Samsung Galaxy IV and the new iPhone will both be arriving this year, and the feature race is on. One feature will apparently be the ability to…wait for it…wirelessly charge your phone.
Wireless charging isn’t anything new, particularly. Working on the principles of magnetic induction, it’s pretty much just making your phone and the charging station two halves of an electrical transformer.
The rumors, however, are unsurprisingly pretty spotty about what this might actually entail:
“Apple is likely to adopt the wireless charging technology developed internally,” the report said, “but it remains unknown if the next-generation iPhone will come with built-in wireless charging capability or with other attached accessories.”
The details on Samsung are more specific, claiming that the Galaxy S IV will feature Qi wireless charging technology run by the Wireless Power Consortium. Users will reportedly be required to buy replacement back covers and an accessory charging pad to be able to recharge their handset without plugging in a cable.
That first part frankly seems unlikely: Apple likes everything crammed into one light, thin, neat package, so if they can’t work wireless charging into the overall design of the product, they probably aren’t going to do it.
Samsung, on the other hand? Slam dunk. Samsung works on the principle of volume and being on Android, so it seems likely they’ll feature this as an optional accessory to help their phone seem more futuristic. It seems likely this will be an accessory.
So, guys, we notice the whole idea of charging our gadgets by blasting them with lightning from Tesla coils remains untapped. Maybe work on that next?
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I doubt that Apple will change their charging method with this coming generation because they just did with the current one and the lightening input.
They have to weigh their desire to follow outdated walled-garden design principles against their desire to make their fans cry by introducing something demonstrably better less than a year after they bought the old version.
Making their fans cry because they introduced something demonstrably better less than a year after they bought the old version is the lifeblood of Apple. For years Steve Jobs subsisted off of the tears of hipsters and fanboys. Seriously, it’s true. Read the biography. It’s somewhere in Appendix B that mentions it.
@His biography has Appendices? Wait, what version did I bu….aw dammit Apple.
Apple has a patent on “true” wireless charinging using various charging orbs around the area to charge a device without having to place it on a mat. Who knows how far along the actual technology behind the patent is.
[www.wired.com]
My Lumia 920 already has wireless charging, and the Palm phones had wireless charging like four years ago. Not really groundbreaking IMO, but if Apple and Samsung want to pretend it is that’s cool.
If Apple does it, look for them to invent their own standard outside of Qi.
Man, Nokia did not promote that at all.
Also, yes, of course Apple will invent its own standard. And it will immediately become outdated, just like USB 3.0 made Lightning pointless a month after it was revealed.
Not promoting things is very par for the course with Windows Phone. Nokia does what it can but Windows Phone has been marketed so poorly.
And wireless charging is cool – no more fumbling around for cords and the Nokia charging stand turns my phone into basically an alarm clock. But most of the cool factor of wireless charging (like NFC) is the future potential. Restaurant/coffee shop tables with Qi sensitive surfaces, car charging integration and other accessories that just don’t exist yet. Probably because Apple doesn’t have wireless charging.
Lightning is designed to do things USB isn’t that great at.
I’ve had a Powermat case on my iPhone 4 for two and a half years running. How fucking hard is this to implement?
First of all, love your booze.
Secondly, I’m assuming the concern was getting the tech small enough to fit into the case while retaining the pretty thin physique these phones are known for.
Totally thought this was going to be a story about the phones charging people money for them to use the wireless function. So like when I’m at home and use Wifi instead of my data minutes I was guessing they’d start charging for that now. This is much better.