Apple reportedly developing new wireless charging technology

A report by Bloomberg and citing people familiar with the company’s plans reveals that Apple is looking into ways to introduce wireless charging on the iPhone, and several partners in the United States and Asia are now discussing the development of such technologies. But in 2017, according to a new report from Bloomberg, Apple might start adding an advanced type of wireless charging – one that works over a distance – to its gadgets.

At the moment, its engineers are working to overcome a number of obstacles, particularly the issues of power loss over a distance as, obviously, the further away from the pad you are the slower it will charge.

With the market of iPhone and iPad growing, the company could find an additional unique selling proposition to its already soaring sales in countries like India. Instead the phone could charge at greater distances, completely wirelessly, from the source of power.

In October 2015, Apple was granted a patent it had filed the previous year regarding “Inductive Power Transfer Using Acoustic or Haptic Devices”. The all-in-one lightning connector will both serve as a charging port, head phone jack, and other input-required features.

Apple’s had iPhone 5se in its pocket for a while now, according to Japanese tech site Nikkei whose source say Apple finished building the device past year. In 2010, the company described a concept that involved using the iMac as a charging station, allowing any compatible device within one metre of the computer to be charged.

Battery recharging technologies remain a key concern of device vendors, of course, and heavyweights such as Google and Samsung have pursued wireless charging for years. However, Apple is still analyzing its options over how exactly it wants the technology to be implemented, it was learnt.

Apple has adopted some advances later than rivals, including large-screen phones and near-field communications (NFC) technology used for tap-and-pay transactions, and there are some good reasons a phone maker may wait to adopt wireless charging.