Apple may cut the (charging) cord completely with the iPhone 8

One thing is clear, Green continued, in 2017 users are not going to see "a device offering full-speed wireless charging across a room."

Even if Apple chooses magnetic resonance wireless charging for the iPhone, it will likely be a "baby step" toward an eventual changeover to the Holy Grail of wireless charging: charging over distance with a W-iFi-like connection.

Ossia and Energous have demonstrated wireless charging beyond 15 feet.

"I've used both. The technology works," Ruekert said.

Both Energous' WattUp and Ossia's Cota mobile device charging systems work much like a wireless router, sending radio frequency signals that can be received by enabled mobile devices, such as wearables and mobile phones. A small RF antenna in the form of PCB board, an ASIC and software make up the wireless power receivers.

Ossia

Ossia's wireless RF charging router.

Another advantage of using radio frequencies to charge a mobile device is that a traditional magnetic charging coil is no longer needed. A mobile device's Wi-Fi receiver chip can simply be modified so that it receives both the wireless signal for communication and charging.

Whatever charging method Apple chooses, if indeed it does so this year, there will likely be something proprietary added to it, Rueckert said.

Over the last decade, Apple has filed several patents on wireless charging.

In 2005, an Apple patent described technology for an iPod using zero-contact induction for not only charging but data transfer -- most likely to manage device charging.

Apple

The Apple Watch, launched in 2015, uses a proprietary form of  inductive wireless charging.

In a 2012 Apple patent filing, the company described a near field magnetic resonance (NFMR) power supply "arranged to wirelessly provide power to any of a number of suitably configured devices."

Apple's patent description indicated a charging distance of about one meter, which could be projected out from a desktop computer such as the iMac to power peripheral devices such as a wireless mouse.

While "second guessing exact Apple product specifications is a fool's game," wireless charging is quickly on the uptake by most leading mobile technology providers, Green said.

In 2016, 200 million wireless charging-enabled devices shipped, with almost all of them using some form of inductive (charging pad) type design, Green said.

"If this was any other manufacturer, you would predict inductive charging pad-type technology as the start point," Green said. "But I wouldn't be surprised if they're looking at more than one method of wireless charging as part of the overall experience."

source:computerworld.com