Next year’s iPhone might have advanced wireless charging

People familiar with the matter told Bloomberg that Apple is developing new technologies which would essentially allow iPhones and iPads to recharge at a further distance away than current charging mats offered by other smartphone makers.

While wireless charging is of course nothing new, the report notes that Apple’s wireless charging scheme will be a bit more complex and practical insofar as its implementation may support the ability to charge devices at longer distances.

Assuming Apple succeeds in solving the power loss problem (and this report is indeed true), its new charging technology could be out as soon as 2017.

One of the major issues faced by wireless chargers that are based on charging plates or mats is that the quality of power transferred to the device gets affected as the proximity decreases. Today, Apple uses wireless inductive charging for the Apple Watch, but the watch still needs to sit directly on top of its magnetic cradle to charge. As per the rumours, the wireless technology will not be dependant on a charging pad or mat.

Given that the iPhone 7 is widely reported to be dropping the 3.5mm headphone port, shifting extra connection responsibility to the Lightning port, another charging method could be just what Apple needs. While now the most valuable publicly traded USA tech company, the decline put it closer to Alphabet Inc, which ended the day worth roughly $486.5 billion.

Wireless solutions using so-called “uncoupled technology”, able to send low levels of power (usually less than a watt) across a room, are “likely to take longer to reach the mass market”, said IHS research manager David Green.

iPhones and iPads account for over three quarters of revenue for the company.

If this technology does find its way into Apple’s device lineup, the company will reportedly reveal the tech sometime next year.