Apple has elected not to include inductive wireless charging for multiple years after it has been available, including well after it has advanced in speed and efficiency, and after they've used it in the Apple Watch. Phil Schiller previously, essentially called it something of questionable convenience.
Obviously, any smart person knows why it is in the Apple Watch, and that is due to internal space savings with the exclusion of an open, large port, the inherent water resistance not having that port provides, and the fact that one does not use a watch while it is charging, unlike a smartphone or tablet, where they will often continue to use it while it is charging, and therefore, a cord is categorically superior to laying it down on an inductive charging mat.
Inductive wireless charging is certainly only extremely, minorly convenient in a smartphone. Moreover, it decreases the insanely valuable internal space with the inclusion of a large coil for the inductive charging. It is not worth the internal space loss for the minor convenience in my mind.
It's well-known that Apple recently joined the WPC, but their statement leaves their plans ambiguous at the very least. "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." They specifically state 'future wireless charging standards' which seemingly eliminates all current standards of interest to them. This statement—in my mind—says they are joining to influence the WPC to standardize new methodologies, and not use old ones.
It is my speculation, that Apple has been working with Energous, as has been rumored for a couple of years now. I believe the 2017 iPhones will ship with the Energous/Dialog Semi chips, instead of the inductive wireless charging coils. Energous says that Dialog and themselves have the same customer base. Apple is responsible for >80% of Dialog's revenue. There is considerable evidence that suggests Apple is the secretive tier-one CE company that Energous has been working with since 2014, and signed a contract with in early 2015, which was amended later to include more first-to-market advantages to the contractee.
I believe that given the fact that Energous has an FCC approved contact-based RF charging solution, there is nothing stopping Apple from including this in the 2017 iPhones. It is seemingly a superior technology than inductive-based wireless charging, even when it comes to only contact-based charging, due to the internal space savings in not having to use a coil. I believe the HomePod was specifically conceptualized and designed beginning 'multiple years' ago, when Apple was first beginning to work with Energous. The HomePod could be the first mid-field wireless distance charging transmitter. It's a desktop speaker as Energous has suggested a mid-field transmitter could be. So, the HomePod could include the antennae setup for 3ft charging distance for the 2017 iPhones, while they ship with, or have a contact-based mat for a much cheaper price, which most customers can afford.
The HomePod does not launch until December despite having been worked on for 'multiple years'. According to all official information Apple has given about it thus far, it's just a speaker. It seems incredibly unlikely to me that Apple would take 'multiple years' to design a speaker and announce it with an additional 6-month wait until it's release. I believe the HomePod has a December launch specifically because it's the end of the year, giving Energous maximal time to attain FCC approval of the mid-field technology. Apple would be keenly aware of the timeline and prospect of Energous attaining this approval in the interim period between June 5th and December, if they are the partner. Moreover, the HomePod releases in only 3 countries in December; Australia, the UK, and the US. Why can Apple only release a speaker in 3 countries and why does it take them this long to release said speaker? For comparative purposes, the Apple Watch launched in 9 countries and the recent AirPods launched in over 100 countries/territories despite the well-known fact that AirPods were and have remained extremely supply-constrained. This makes me believe that the HomePod releasing in only 3 countries is not because they won't have enough manufactured, but because they are well aware that for regulatory purposes in Energous gaining approval for the mid-range charging, these are the countries that they expect will have approval by December.
In conclusion, I see the HomePod as the potential 3ft range true wireless distance charging transmitter. I believe in 2018 or 2019 Apple could make a larger more feature-laden device which acts as the central hub to the home, calling it simply 'Apple Home'. This device would be capable of the 15ft long-field charging and potentially include a display and wifi router capability, while the HomePods are the 'pods' to the central hub, and could act as wifi range-extenders as well.
Sorry for the long post but it takes many words to get peoples' hopes up.
Obviously, any smart person knows why it is in the Apple Watch, and that is due to internal space savings with the exclusion of an open, large port, the inherent water resistance not having that port provides, and the fact that one does not use a watch while it is charging, unlike a smartphone or tablet, where they will often continue to use it while it is charging, and therefore, a cord is categorically superior to laying it down on an inductive charging mat.
Inductive wireless charging is certainly only extremely, minorly convenient in a smartphone. Moreover, it decreases the insanely valuable internal space with the inclusion of a large coil for the inductive charging. It is not worth the internal space loss for the minor convenience in my mind.
It's well-known that Apple recently joined the WPC, but their statement leaves their plans ambiguous at the very least. "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." They specifically state 'future wireless charging standards' which seemingly eliminates all current standards of interest to them. This statement—in my mind—says they are joining to influence the WPC to standardize new methodologies, and not use old ones.
It is my speculation, that Apple has been working with Energous, as has been rumored for a couple of years now. I believe the 2017 iPhones will ship with the Energous/Dialog Semi chips, instead of the inductive wireless charging coils. Energous says that Dialog and themselves have the same customer base. Apple is responsible for >80% of Dialog's revenue. There is considerable evidence that suggests Apple is the secretive tier-one CE company that Energous has been working with since 2014, and signed a contract with in early 2015, which was amended later to include more first-to-market advantages to the contractee.
I believe that given the fact that Energous has an FCC approved contact-based RF charging solution, there is nothing stopping Apple from including this in the 2017 iPhones. It is seemingly a superior technology than inductive-based wireless charging, even when it comes to only contact-based charging, due to the internal space savings in not having to use a coil. I believe the HomePod was specifically conceptualized and designed beginning 'multiple years' ago, when Apple was first beginning to work with Energous. The HomePod could be the first mid-field wireless distance charging transmitter. It's a desktop speaker as Energous has suggested a mid-field transmitter could be. So, the HomePod could include the antennae setup for 3ft charging distance for the 2017 iPhones, while they ship with, or have a contact-based mat for a much cheaper price, which most customers can afford.
The HomePod does not launch until December despite having been worked on for 'multiple years'. According to all official information Apple has given about it thus far, it's just a speaker. It seems incredibly unlikely to me that Apple would take 'multiple years' to design a speaker and announce it with an additional 6-month wait until it's release. I believe the HomePod has a December launch specifically because it's the end of the year, giving Energous maximal time to attain FCC approval of the mid-field technology. Apple would be keenly aware of the timeline and prospect of Energous attaining this approval in the interim period between June 5th and December, if they are the partner. Moreover, the HomePod releases in only 3 countries in December; Australia, the UK, and the US. Why can Apple only release a speaker in 3 countries and why does it take them this long to release said speaker? For comparative purposes, the Apple Watch launched in 9 countries and the recent AirPods launched in over 100 countries/territories despite the well-known fact that AirPods were and have remained extremely supply-constrained. This makes me believe that the HomePod releasing in only 3 countries is not because they won't have enough manufactured, but because they are well aware that for regulatory purposes in Energous gaining approval for the mid-range charging, these are the countries that they expect will have approval by December.
In conclusion, I see the HomePod as the potential 3ft range true wireless distance charging transmitter. I believe in 2018 or 2019 Apple could make a larger more feature-laden device which acts as the central hub to the home, calling it simply 'Apple Home'. This device would be capable of the 15ft long-field charging and potentially include a display and wifi router capability, while the HomePods are the 'pods' to the central hub, and could act as wifi range-extenders as well.
Sorry for the long post but it takes many words to get peoples' hopes up.
