A new report in Reuters discussing the state of Apple’s work on this year’s iPhone reveals that Apple may not have yet settled on a wireless charging solution for the upcoming “iPhone 8,” despite the company’s recent entry into the Wireless Power Consortium backing the Qi standard.
The Reuters report cites a person with knowledge of the matter who indicates that there are presently five separate groups at Apple currently working on wireless charging technology, suggesting that each group is pursuing and testing different standards to determine which of them will be Apple’s preferred choice.
Although the report doesn’t mention which technologies Apple may be pursuing, an analyst report earlier this week suggested that at least two of the contending solutions that could be adopted to provide wireless charging in the “iPhone 8” include Qi, which is currently used in the Apple Watch, and a coil/magnetic resonance solution by Airfuel that doesn’t require “the same proximity, or accuracy, as a device with a Qi coil.” While the analyst report also ruled out Energous’ long-range charging technology as it hasn’t received all of the necessary FCC approvals, it remains possible that Apple may still be considering Energous’ more traditional wireless charging pads as they are scheduled to ship much sooner and promise to provide forward compatibility with the longer-range transmitters once they become available.
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