Apple is killing the charging plug on its highest-end phones by 2021?

#27

Doesn’t it sound like Apple though lol

#28

Unless there’s a massive change to the infrastructure where wireless charging devices are located in bars/restaurants/transport etc or the implementation of li-fi charging globally I can’t see them want to remove the cable (lightning or future edition)

#29

That’s just the thing. If Apple changes something, everyone else will change to meet them.

I still maintain that I think it will be a proprietary wireless charging. It won’t even be possible to use Qi

#30

Apples claim to get rid of the headphone jack for waterproofing is stupid. Samsung phones have headphone Jack’s and still maintain ipx 68 rating, so that was a moot point.

#31

The waterproofing that Samsung phones have, and being able to dive with the phone are two completely different things. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t approve of removing it the port (yet). The world isn’t there

#32

I’ve seen some wireless charging power banks have suction cups to hold the phone :joy:

#33

Yeah, this is the MAIN reason why this won’t happen anytime soon.

The ports will disappear when: (A) Wireless charging over distance (like 30 feet) becomes reality. Then your phone can charge anywhere inside your house or office or bus or train. Or, (B) When wireless charging on a charging pad becomes near instant (like 30 seconds to go from 0% to 100%). I don’t see either happening anytime soon.

#34

Unless they can figure out some sort of wireless super charge, don’t see how this would be efficient

#35

More and more content showing this may become true

#36

O2 (crap network) do this for certain phone models.

On the basis… We all have too many chargers laying around. Trouble is, new.phones need better chargers, than the old ones we have laying around. So it’s not saving anything, as you’ll need to buy one anyways, as your old one won’t charge the new phone! lol

They still don’t get it.

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#37

I really hope they don’t but knowing Apple they might. Can’t imagine changing everything from the house to car to work for wireless charging. That and if the coil goes bad your really screw

#38

I have never seen a wireless charging coil go bad, and I have been using them for a while now.

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#39
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#40

Music to my ears, look forward to getting it in 2 years (under contract for iPhone 11 Pro :grimacing: ) hopefully…

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#41

These wireless only phones are good but wireless chargers are more expensive :moneybag: and the old cords I’ve bought are useless for some of these wireless chargers, especially my apple cords :man_shrugging:

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#42

So we discussed it, on the assumption if something is possible then eventually someone will make it and some will buy it, and discussed how many would buy it. The consensus was that as wireless charging will always (for like-cost *) be slower people would prefer to keep a port. My own view is with an improvement in battery technology that wireless charging will get fast enough vast majority of people will be perfectly happy.

We are already seeing proprietary wireless charging as fast as wired when you throw enough technology at it like a fan cooled pad.

(*) The Oneplus wireless charger is $70

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#43

Anker’s wireless chargers go on sale quite a lot and their prices are quite good :+1:

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#44

So, rumor has it that the portless iPhones in 2021 will have Smart Connectors. The Smart Connector can be used to transfer large amounts of data and to reset and troubleshoot the phone. It is capable of charging as well, although that is not the primary objective. Right now, the Smart Connectors are primarily used by iPads to connect to keyboards.

This alleviates many of the concerns of going portless and makes portless much more bearable: the aforementioned data transfer and troubleshooting, a second way of charging should wireless fail, charging-while-using is easier (or maybe a third party will make a wireless charging pad that sticks to the back of the phone and will have like a 10 foot cord).

Hope the portless versions of the iPhones will accept at least 15W (maybe 18W or 30W?).

#45

You mean like pogo pins? Magnetic large dots? You have a fairly wide plug connects magnetically? It’s waterproof as no hole.

You can charge via them but not as effective as wired as little contact area so more for low data needs, fix a bricked phone etc

I doubt it’s for fast charging, the resistance is too high.

#46

It’s not for fast charging. The old Smart Connector design (pogo pins) was capable of 12W charging. The current Smart Connector design (flat magnetic contacts) probably does the same 12W. I wouldn’t use it to charge on a regular basis, but it’s a great backup in case of emergency.

Logitech made Logi Base for the old Smart Connector. They didn’t make one for the current Smart Connector, presumably because the sales were so low.