Wireless Charger, Good For Nothing?
With the iPhone 13 lineup right around the corner, it’s time to talk about wireless charging. As many of you know, the iPhone 13 has a very good chance of not having a charging port at all, so the only way to charge it will be via wireless charging. So, what about it?
Wireless Charging Currently
Wireless charging has always been this ultra-niche product that no one uses. It charges your phone painfully slowly and heats your phone a lot which just isn’t good for your battery. The only real benefit to using wireless charging is to save you that 5 seconds of plugging it in. Which will cost you to charge twice as slow and you also cannot use your phone while it’s charging. It’s kind of like painting a wall with an electrical toothbrush. Sure, it’ll do the job, but it’ll also take 5 years and it’s more expensive.
Which begs the question, why? The point of wireless charging is to make charging more convenient, but you can’t use your phone while it’s charging which defeats the whole purpose of wireless charging. Not only is it pointless pain, but it’s also a very expensive pain. Is wireless charging useless though?
Apple’s Influence
The short answer is no, before you start raging though, hear me out. Remember back a few years ago when wireless headphone was in the same situation? When the first iPhone without a headphone jack dropped? The world flipped. Many other smartphone companies even made fun of them for removing the headphone jack only to soon follow suit with their phone. Just last year, Apple removed the charging brick in their phone and Samsung immediately follow suit with their S21 series.
Let’s round back to the headphone jack situation. Just a few years back, wireless headphones were this ultra-niche product, that once again no one used. Now, almost everyone has a pair. Because there was suddenly a huge demand, and you can bet your bottom dollars that companies are working their hardest to meet them. Since the need was high, the technology matured quickly. Once the iPhone 13 does drop, assuming that it doesn’t have a port, will also force the technology [wireless charging] to mature quickly.
True Wireless Charging
No, I’m not talking about the dumb “wireless” charging we’re used to. I’m talking about actually good wireless charging. Wireless charging is supposed to be something you set on a table nearby and it will charge everything capable of wireless charging in a specific area nearby. Kind of like the Motherbox, but instead of having a specific area it fires at and it also gets weaker further away, it will fire a beam directly to the phone. Not only does this mean it can fire further, but this will also mean it can charge faster. that means you don’t have to do anything to charge your phone as long as you’re in the room.
This could mean that you can never run out of battery as long as you in the area of the true wireless charging box’s range. This could potentially mean unlimited battery if executed correctly. If you haven’t already heard, Xiaomi is working on this. If a company of this caliber is working on it, it could mean great things, assuming they don’t mess it up.
Wireless Charging in the Future
Wireless charging’s potential has always been sky high, but the execution has never been quite right. We never quite had the technology to execute it right. However, 5G is going to change. 5G relies on sub-millimeter waves, and the one Xiaomi is working on, also relies on sub-millimeter waves. These sub-millimeter waves sent out even faster signals, which means true wireless charging is possible now.
Wireless charging in the future will become so widely used that we will have an unlimited battery at home with zero interruption. For all devices in that area, there will be no need for a cable. Any store or room can just put one wireless charging box in the room and everyone inside that space will also have an unlimited battery.
