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Iphone Power Apple

Apple's iPhone 12 Seems To Have a Secret Reverse Wireless Charging Feature (theverge.com) 28

Posted by BeauHD from the not-quite-ready-for-primetime dept.
Apple's iPhone 12 lineup has the ability to wirelessly charge an external accessory, according to a series of newly unveiled FCC filings that just went public yesterday. The Verge reports: The documents first spotted by VentureBeat's Jeremy Horwitz say the phone "supports a built-in inductive charging transmitter and receiver." Apple has not officially announced any such functionality that could be used to charge future AirPods or Apple's long rumored Tile-competitor dubbed "AirTags." "In addition to being able to be charged by a desktop WPT [wireless power transfer] charger (puck), 2020 iPhone models ... also support WPT charging function at 360 kHz to charge accessories," one of the documents reads. It lists a series of FCC IDs of iPhones with the new feature, which include the the iPhone 12 mini (BCG-E3539A), iPhone 12 (BCG-E3542A), iPhone 12 Pro (BCG-E3545A), and iPhone 12 Pro Max (BCG-E3548A). The maximum reverse wireless charging speed is listed as 5W, if we're reading the documents correctly.

It sounds like the iPhone 12's reverse wireless charging may be limited, at least at first. The documents say that "currently the only accessory that can be charged by iPhones is an external potential apple accessory in future" and that reverse charging currently "only occurs when the phone is connected to an AC power outlet." The FCC's testing appears to have been conducted using only a wall charger and USB-C cable, presumably the same USB-C to Lighting cable bundled with each iPhone 12. It's unclear why Apple did not officially reveal the functionality when it announced the phones themselves, though it could be because the accessory which works with the functionality isn't yet ready to be released. Bloomberg's Mark Gurman speculates that it might work with the company's upcoming AirPods revamp, whose existence was reported earlier this week.
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Apple's iPhone 12 Seems To Have a Secret Reverse Wireless Charging Feature More

Apple's iPhone 12 Seems To Have a Secret Reverse Wireless Charging Feature

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    • Yawn. My Galaxy s10 already does this and has a bigger battery. I've rescued several bateery delpleted phone already

    • Re: (Score:1, Interesting)

      by anonymouscoward52236 ( 6163996 )
      Welcome to the 21st century Apple users!

      • Welcome to the 21st century Apple users!

        Welcome to 1978. Nothing revolutionary. It's an inductive charging system. The iPhone can be charged and can charge via induction. Given the (low) efficiency of such system, the iPhone must be connected to an AC power outlet, and the (small) device must be stuck to the iPhone.

        • Welcome to 1978. Nothing revolutionary. It's an inductive charging system. The iPhone can be charged and can charge via induction. Given the (low) efficiency of such system, the iPhone must be connected to an AC power outlet, and the (small) device must be stuck to the iPhone.

          And Tesla adds nothing revolutionary either because electric cars have been done 100 years ago.

          There is considerable value in taking existing technology and making it more affordable, of greater convenience, and any of a number of other improvements. Apple seems to have a considerable record of taking technology that has existed before and give it a certain kind of polish to where it becomes quite popular. This has been what kept the company going for a very long time.

          • No offense, but comparing an induction based charger from a phone and Tesla makes no sense. What did Apple is easy ; the only reason it was not done before is because it's not so useful (need a power outlet anyway), and is energy inefficient (if no outlet were used).

            • No offense, but comparing an induction based charger from a phone and Tesla makes no sense. What did Apple is easy ; the only reason it was not done before is because it's not so useful (need a power outlet anyway), and is energy inefficient (if no outlet were used).

              It wasn't useful before because nobody made accessories for it yet. Being able to charge a phone and any attached accessory by plugging in a single cable sounds useful.

              And no analogy is perfect. Apple and Tesla both have a tendency to do what others have done, only better. Making an electric car is as easy as putting an induction charger in a phone. What's hard is doing either in a way that people would want to buy it.

              We shall see if this new iPhone feature is useful. Apple has had a few flops before,

          • Re: (Score:2)

            by AmiMoJo ( 196126 )

            In this case though Apple is a way behind the curve. Their own design wireless charger failed and was cancelled, apparently couldn't get the performance they had promised. Many other phones have reverse charging now too, which is a good thing since they all insist on removing the headphone jack and pushing you towards Bluetooth headphones.

        • Re: (Score:3)

          by AmiMoJo ( 196126 )

          Wireless charging is convenient. In some places a lot of cafes and restaurants build it in to their furniture so you can get a boost while you get lunch, without needing the right cable or your own charger. Some cars have it too, where it's quick and doesn't result in a cable flapping around in the cabin.

          I just wish more phones had a charge limiter so you could program them to stop at say 70%. As you charge over 70% it has a greater and greater impact on the battery, shortening its life. I'm looking at solu

          • "As you charge over 70% it has a greater and greater impact on the battery, shortening its life."

            Do you think that perhaps the phone manufacturers could already be doing that and just having the OS report 100% to the user?

            • Re: (Score:2)

              by AmiMoJo ( 196126 )

              The manufacturers are more interested in maximising battery life (reviews always mention it) and then charging you to replace it in a few years when it is worn out.

  • w00t! Now BattBump [kickstarter.com] can uncancel their Kickstarter!

  • People keep saying new Air Pods, but the obvious accessory to me is a battery case (not unlike the ones they have) that charges through induction when you plug your phone at night. Or maybe since they could never get their wireless charging mat working (AirPower) their replacement solution is you plug your phone in at night and it becomes a wireless charging mat for anything? Maybe even another iPhone?

  • Apple copying Samsung again. (Score:3)

    by thegarbz ( 1787294 ) on Thursday October 29, 2020 @05:32AM (#60661572)

    Wireless PowerShare was introduced in Samsung phones last year without any fanfare allowing them to charge any other compatible wireless phone (that is compatible with a wireless standard, not specifically Samsung models).

    No doubt this Apple rumour is "innovative" because it's Apple.

    • without any fanfare

      And there is even less fanfare here since this is just somebody with no Apple affiliation who was reading FCC filings. Apple hasn't claimed this is innovative because they haven't "claimed" anything, they've simply submitted the routine paperwork for informing the FCC about their wireless transmitting device.

      I assume Samsung must have also filed similar paperwork and from the tone of your post presumably nobody cared enough to notice.

      If it hurts your feelings that somebody cares enough about Apple to read F

    • It's a stupid feature to begin with. The efficiency of wireless charging is pretty low so they might as well call it the suck my battery dry feature. Take 50% of your battery to give another battery 10% of a charge.

      • It's a stupid feature to begin with.

        Absolutely worthless feature until you need it. I don't give a shit how inefficient something is providing it can save me in a pinch.

      • Isn't the idea more that you plug the phone in, and it charges nearby devices, and oh yeah, you can also charge off your battery if you really need to?
  • In the day and age of garbage biases media and fake news it is very comforting to come to slashdot and know that almost nothing slips by this community on âoestuff that mattersâ.

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