Shares of Energous, a company developing long-range RF-based charging technology under the name "WattUp," nearly doubled today, apparently driven by a Bloomberg report this morning indicating that Apple has been working on a MagSafe battery pack for its iPhone 12 lineup. The story was kicked off earlier this week when MacRumors contributor Steve Moser discovered a non-specific reference to an iPhone "battery pack" in the latest beta of iOS 14.5.
According to a report this morning from CNA Finance, investors are betting on new rumors that Energous and Apple are working together on wireless charging, based on a "previously overlooked SEC filing." The report has been picked up by several financial news outlets, including The Street and Seeking Alpha.
Setting aside the fact that Apple's inductive MagSafe wireless charging relies on different technology than the RF system being developed by Energous, there's another issue with today's rumor, and that's that the apparent filings in question which mention "Apple compliance testing" for WattUp technology were filed back in 2013 and 2014 and were widely covered in the media in 2016. The last time an Energous filing with the SEC mentioned Apple was in December 2014.
There was a flurry of interest in Energous back in 2016 and 2017 amid rumors of an Apple partnership, but that speculation quickly died down and things have been essentially silent for several years now. Energous has continued to develop its long-range charging technology, working with Dialog Semiconductor on transmitter and receiver hardware but so far deploying it only in a few niche applications such as equine health monitoring.
Thursday October 10, 2024 8:26 am PDT by Joe Rossignol
iOS 18.1 will be released to the public in the coming weeks, and the software update introduces the first Apple Intelligence features for the iPhone. Below, we outline when to expect iOS 18.1 to be released. iOS 18.1: Apple Intelligence Features Here are some of the key Apple Intelligence features in the iOS 18.1 beta so far: A few Siri enhancements, including improved understanding...
Tuesday October 8, 2024 5:45 am PDT by Tim Hardwick
Apple's iPhone development roadmap runs several years into the future and the company is continually working with suppliers on several successive iPhone models simultaneously, which is why we sometimes get rumored feature leaks so far ahead of launch. The iPhone 17 series is no different – already we have some idea of what to expect from Apple's 2025 smartphone lineup. If you plan to skip...
Alleged photos and videos of an unannounced 14-inch MacBook Pro with an M4 chip continue to surface on social media, in what could be the worst product leak for Apple since an employee accidentally left an iPhone 4 prototype at a bar in California in 2010. The latest video of what could be a next-generation MacBook Pro was shared on YouTube Shorts today by Russian channel Romancev768, just...
Tuesday October 8, 2024 6:16 am PDT by Tim Hardwick
Rumors strongly suggest Apple will release the seventh-generation iPad mini in November, nearly three years after the last refresh. Here's a roundup of what we're expecting from the next version of Apple's small form factor tablet, based on the latest rumors and reports. Design and Display The new iPad mini is likely to retain its compact 8.3-inch display and overall design introduced with...
Tuesday October 8, 2024 8:57 am PDT by Joe Rossignol
The current Apple TV was released two years ago this month, so you may be wondering when the next model will be released. Below, we recap rumors about a next-generation Apple TV. In January 2023, Bloomberg's Mark Gurman reported that a new Apple TV was planned for release in the first half of 2024:Beyond the future smart displays and new speaker, Apple is working on revamping its TV box....
Thursday October 10, 2024 6:22 am PDT by Tim Hardwick
Apple often releases new Macs in the fall, but we are still waiting for official confirmation that the company has similar plans this year. We're approaching the middle of October now, and if Apple plans to announce new Macs before the holidays, recent history suggests it will happen this month. Here's what we know so far. As of writing this, it's been 220 days since Apple released a new...
