Today, Apple has officially joined the Wireless Power Consortium, which happens to be the governing body in charge of the Qi charging standard. There have been rumors that the next flagship iPhone, which is going to be launched later this year, will include some wireless charging properties. Now that the company has been officially enlisted on the Wireless Power Consortium website, it seems like all of these rumors might actually come true. Apple was added to WPC’s official list on 12th February, 2017 as one of the 213 members that makes the Consortium. Just a day before the company was listed with Wireless Power Consortium, there had been a rumor that the iPhone 8 was going to come with wireless charging, but the accessory for charging will be sold separately.
Apple joining the Wireless Power Consortium doesn’t necessarily mean that the iPhone 8 will indeed come out to fully use the Consortium’s Qi, which happens to be its single standard for wireless charging. The Apple Watch was configured with the Qi charging standard, but just as reports from The Register noted in 2015, Apple had tweaked the standard and made their own version, ensuring that the Watch cannot be charged by other Qi chargers except those sold or recommended by Apple. This is what is likely to happen to the iPhone 8.
IT IS A MILESTONE IN WIRELESS CHARGING
Apple joining the Wireless Power Consortium is a milestone in wireless charging. This is because, it might motivate some of the other popular brands to also join the WPC and push out more devices that will be equipped with the wireless charging feature. A report from Apple noted that the company is an active member of a lot of standard development organization, as a leader as well as a contributor. In the report, the company also noted that the addition of Apple to the Wireless Power Consortium will enable them to be able to contribute ideas and participate in the collaborative development of wireless charging standards for the future.
It could also be a major selling point for the iPhone series that will be made available later this year. A research conducted by IHS Technology depicted that over ninety percent of consumers denoted that they would love the wireless charging feature on their next smartphone. IHS also noted that over three hundred and fifty million device with the wireless charging feature will be shipped in 2017, and this new growth will be driven by the Apple’s iPhone addition.
The iPhone 8 With Wireless Charging
The newest range of the iPhone series is expected to be launched in September 2017. The iPhone 8 is expected to feature some new and improved enhancements, including a 5.1 or 5.2 inch screen size, edge to edge OLED, dual-lens rear camera, curved glass back screen, touch ID, 10nm “A11: processor, speaker embedded in screen Facetime camera, and of course of wireless charging.
As said earlier, Apple might be using the same technology they used in the Apple Watch. It is a form of wireless charging that is based on the Qi standard but uses a magnetic connector which is an authenticated, proprietary variant designed for Apple’s approved and official MFI-licensed charging devices. This mean that you might not be able to use any kind of wireless chargers for the iPhone 8 except those approved by Apple.
Other rumors predict that the price of the iPhone 8 will start from a thousand dollars upwards. There are also claims that Apple might introduce an iris scanner into the new iPhone in order to complement the Touch ID and to ensure that logins are much more secure.
Additionally, Apple is expected launch the iPhone 7 series successors this year, and they are all going to be equipped with the Apple’s wireless charging feature. They are going to be three different successors, with two following the iPhone 7 and 7 plus, and the last one a higher-end model that might come with an OLED display. They are also going to come in the same size range, between 4.7 inches to 5.5 inches. Another rumor about this update is that these range of smartphones will stick to the LCD technology for their display, while the iPhone 8 with OLED will have a significantly better panel, which will serve as an advantage to the higher price tag.
ABOUT WIRELESS POWER CONSORTIUM
The Wireless Power Consortium is the brains behind Qi, a wireless charging standard that allows the transfer of inductive power without using cords, to charge. The Consortium has a lot of members including Lenovo, Nokia, Samsung, Canon, Asus, and many more.
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