Apple is dedicatedly investigating ways to charge iPhones and iPads wirelessly and without contact. It is trying to make use of the signal emitted by radio frequencies such as Wi-Fi for its investigation, a patent filing has revealed. A US patent granted to Apple this week shows that its engineers are experimenting with wireless charging, a feature that’s found its way to many phones and tablets but not Apple’s iPhones and iPads.
A US patent granted to Apple this week shows that its engineers are experimenting with wireless charging, a feature that’s found its way to many phones and tablets until now but Apple’s iPhones and iPads.
While the patent filing is a very strong hint for us that Apple is working on the technology but it only covers the theory behind the method rather than an actual way to do it.
But there are rumors suggesting that Apple is planning to introduce wireless charging to the iPhone for the first time this year in time, saving a big chunk of cake for its ten year anniversary. Adding some ground to the reports, the company has also joined an industry group called the Wireless Power Consortium in February.
So like all patents, there are high chances of this technique showing up in consumer devices in the near future, but again there is no guarantee that it will ever make it to the market. But Apple seems to be decently preparing for the long-term future because there is a note in the patent filing mentioning that the power signals could also come from millimeter wave antennas, which make extremely high-frequency transmissions.
In addition to this, the patent also explicitly mentions transmitting power through the 60 GHz wavelength used by the WiGig 802.11ad standard, which makes sense as a high-frequency choice given that WiGig is a formalized standard that is likely closer to hardware adoption than other millimeter wave solutions.
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