The wireless charging is one of the highly anticipated features of Apple’s upcoming iPhone 8 model launching later this year. Reuters now has published a report that shed some light on how much attention Apple is paying to the wireless charging at the company. Apple has already been using inductive wireless charging on the Apple Watch, but Reuters reports that Apple has multiple groups working on its rumored wireless charging feature for the iPhone 8.
According to the person who has knowledge of the matter claims that other than joining the group backing Qi, Apple still has at least five different groups focused on developing wireless charging tech within Apple, report Reuters.
Apple recently joined the group backing Qi. But there are still at least five different groups working on wireless charging technology within Apple, according to a person with knowledge of the matter.
Apple has joined the Wireless Power Consortium earlier this month and the company, in a statement, stated that it has become a member of Wireless Power Consortium to share, participate and collaborate the future standards of wireless charging tech. Here is how Apple confirmed its membership:
Apple is an active member of many standards development organizations, as both a leader and contributor. Apple is joining the Wireless Power Consortium to be able to participate and contribute ideas to the open, collaborative development of future wireless charging standards. We look forward to working together with the WPC and its members.
Even if Apple ends up pushing wireless charging feature with iPhone 8, the company has been relatively slow to bring the wireless charging tech to its flagship smartphone. Same was done by Apple with NFC and Apple Pay. But the force behind the iPhone has always helped in boosting the adoptions of its newly introduced feature.
This new report of multiple teams working on wireless charging tech suggests that Apple is eying the future standards of the wireless charging. The inductive wireless charging that requires a dedicated charging pad would be a matter of catching up with the competition, but long-range wireless charging suites Apple’s vision and actually seems like the ultimate long-term goal of the company.
Aside from wireless charging, Apple’s upcoming iPhone 8 is rumored to get 5.8-inch OLED display with a ‘function area’ at the bottom. The “Function area” will get rid of the physical home button that contains the Touch ID. Other than that a boosted battery pack, a new red color, and better water resistance are also rumored to be on the table.