A translated China Times report today claims that the wireless charging coil on at least one of Apple's widely rumored trio of 2018 iPhones will be made from copper wire instead of FPC, short for ferrite polymer composite, allowing for both faster and more efficient wireless charging from a technical standpoint.
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Essentially, the report claims that Apple will be switching from thinner FPC coils with higher resistance to thicker copper wire coils with lower resistance for the wireless charging receiver built into iPhones.
Since high power and high efficiency are the trend of wireless charging, it is expected that at least one of the three iPhones in 2018 will abandon the FPC to adopt a copper coil solution to achieve the above goal, and because the copper wire coil resistance is small. It can also offset the thermal effects generated by the increase in power.
The reduced resistance would allow Apple to increase the power threshold that iPhones can safely handle via wireless charging, without overheating, which could result in faster and more efficient charging via Qi-certified mats, although this would still depend on the wattage that a particular mat outputs.
For context, FPC is a mixture of iron, at least one other metal, and plastic, whereas copper is a more pure material. Both have electromagnetic induction properties, making them suitable for wireless charging coils.
The latest iPhones support wireless charging at up to 7.5W, which actually isn't much faster than wired charging with a 5W power adapter, due to the efficiency limitations of the FPC coil. The switch to copper would yield improvements, assuming that Apple found a way to fit the thicker coil in its next iPhones.
Apple is expected to unveil its 2018 iPhones at Steve Jobs Theater in September, but the company has yet to announce a date for the event.
Top Rated Comments
All these minor improvements are shaping up to be an overall major improvement. Faster wireless charging, faster and more reliable LTE, faster processor, possibly more RAM, etc.
So the normal upgrade path.Would this work with standard Qi chargers or would this need a new, more powerful Qi "plus" mat; or worse - Apple's own proprietary charging mat?
There's no need for more powerful mats. Chargers routinely offer up to 15W of charging power. The 7.5W limitation on iPhones was Apple's choice. Initially it seemed weird that iPhones charged at such low power versus other phones. The material in the coil makes that decision more clearly understandable... if the rumors are true, of course. It seems Apple was using a bit of caution with tech they'd never previously used in phones.But hey - just spend another $1000 this year to get the real real iPhone X/8. The one we should have released last year.
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As an electronic engineer I’ve always found the S versions a lot more interesting.
You do realise you missed out on the last S, right?I’ve upgraded 3GS > 4S > 5S > 6S and I’ll likely get this.
This TSMC 7nm processor should be something to behold, Apple has really impressed me with the A-series chip design. Probably the best all round, most efficiently design chip in the world of smartphones.
I’m hoping Intel’s XMM 7560 is a good improvement over last years slightly lacking modem, I’d still rather have a Qualcom X20. Also Band 71 support hopefully.
Better FaceID, $100 cheaper, better camera, better wireless charging, new 18W fast charger with USB-C at one end.
Personally they all look like black slabs which is fine for me, it’s what’s inside that really gets me interested.
After the 6S came the 7. The "7S" just happens to be called 8.