All Three New 2017 iPhones to Feature Wireless Charging

Apple is widely rumored to launch three new iPhones this year, and KGI Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo now claims that all of them will feature wireless charging.

iphone 8 concept

iPhone 8 concept by UI/UX designer Moe Slah

Kuo said wireless charging increases the internal temperature of smartphones, so he expects the rumored iPhone 8 with an OLED display and glass casing to have a new 3D Touch module with "additional graphite sheet lamination" in order to prevent the device from malfunctioning due to overheating.

An excerpt from Kuo's research note obtained by MacRumors:

While we don’t expect general users to notice any difference, lamination of an additional graphite sheet is needed for better thermal control and, thus, steady operation; this is because FPCB is replaced with film, which is more sensitive to temperature change of the 3D touch sensor in OLED iPhone.

The new 3D Touch module could be up to $5 more expensive for Apple to procure per phone. While that is a minimal increase, it lends further credence to a report claiming the high-end iPhone 8 could cost upwards of $1,000 in the United States due to a significant redesign and the use of premium parts.

Kuo previously said Apple will switch to all-glass casing for next year's entire iPhone lineup, including the more iterative 4.7-inch iPhone 7s and 5.5-inch iPhone 7s Plus, in order to support wireless charging. It remains unclear if the wireless charging will be based on long-range or inductive technologies.

Related Forum: iPhone

Top Rated Comments

840quadra Avatar
94 months ago
Such a "meh" feature. Add it to the list though, because lots of people want / complain about it.
Score: 20 Votes (Like | Disagree)
TSE Avatar
94 months ago
Such a "meh" feature. Add it to the list though, because lots of people want / complain about it.
This is one of the features that I think everyone will enjoy. The lightning cable is notoriously fragile and the convenience of wireless charging is just as powerful a feature as waterproofing it, in my opinion.

I'm still on a 5S, and it seems more and more likely I will update to a 7S.
Score: 15 Votes (Like | Disagree)
AllergyDoc Avatar
94 months ago
it will be nice not to have to worry about wires when reaching for my phone at 3:00 a.m.
Score: 13 Votes (Like | Disagree)
HVDynamo Avatar
94 months ago
Honestly, I would rather they dump wireless charging, and make the phone thick enough to accommodate a flush camera lens and bring back the headphone jack. If they did that, it would be a day one purchase, but it is wishful thinking. Wireless charging is inefficient, and causes the heat issues. I have never had any issues with any of my lightning cables, and don't have a problem just plugging it in. I usually charge it on my nightstand while I sleep and start my day with 100% battery every day. 99% of my days I make it back to the charger without issue.
Score: 10 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Labeno Avatar
94 months ago
These days, ever since Tim Cook pulled that "30 minute short keynote" move, I am more inspired to see the looks on audience's face. I hope the next iPhone is "wow" phone as I had to skip out ip7 plus.
I wish they would allow a general audience so that way the thunderous Booooos would slap Tim Cook back to reality.
Don't get me wrong, Apple does some pretty amazing things, but over Tim's years, they seems to be more and more investor focused instead of customer focused like Steve Jobs was.
Score: 9 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Stuke00 Avatar
94 months ago
Now you'll be able to charge and listen to your music at the same time.
Score: 9 Votes (Like | Disagree)

Popular Stories

maxresdefault

Apple Announces 'Let Loose' Event on May 7 Amid Rumors of New iPads

Tuesday April 23, 2024 7:11 am PDT by
Apple has announced it will be holding a special event on Tuesday, May 7 at 7 a.m. Pacific Time (10 a.m. Eastern Time), with a live stream to be available on Apple.com and on YouTube as usual. The event invitation has a tagline of "Let Loose" and shows an artistic render of an Apple Pencil, suggesting that iPads will be a focus of the event. Subscribe to the MacRumors YouTube channel for more ...
Apple Silicon AI Optimized Feature Siri

Apple Releases Open Source AI Models That Run On-Device

Wednesday April 24, 2024 3:39 pm PDT by
Apple today released several open source large language models (LLMs) that are designed to run on-device rather than through cloud servers. Called OpenELM (Open-source Efficient Language Models), the LLMs are available on the Hugging Face Hub, a community for sharing AI code. As outlined in a white paper [PDF], there are eight total OpenELM models, four of which were pre-trained using the...
Apple Vision Pro Dual Loop Band Orange Feature 2

Apple Cuts Vision Pro Shipments as Demand Falls 'Sharply Beyond Expectations'

Tuesday April 23, 2024 9:44 am PDT by
Apple has dropped the number of Vision Pro units that it plans to ship in 2024, going from an expected 700 to 800k units to just 400k to 450k units, according to Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo. Orders have been scaled back before the Vision Pro has launched in markets outside of the United States, which Kuo says is a sign that demand in the U.S. has "fallen sharply beyond expectations." As a...
iOS 18 Siri Integrated Feature

iOS 18 Rumored to Add These 10 New Features to Your iPhone

Wednesday April 24, 2024 2:05 pm PDT by
Apple is set to unveil iOS 18 during its WWDC keynote on June 10, so the software update is a little over six weeks away from being announced. Below, we recap rumored features and changes planned for the iPhone with iOS 18. iOS 18 will reportedly be the "biggest" update in the iPhone's history, with new ChatGPT-inspired generative AI features, a more customizable Home Screen, and much more....
iPad And Calculator App Feature 1

Apple Finally Plans to Release a Calculator App for iPad Later This Year

Tuesday April 23, 2024 9:08 am PDT by
Apple is finally planning a Calculator app for the iPad, over 14 years after launching the device, according to a source familiar with the matter. iPadOS 18 will include a built-in Calculator app for all iPad models that are compatible with the software update, which is expected to be unveiled during the opening keynote of Apple's annual developers conference WWDC on June 10. AppleInsider...