It’s iPhone event day, and the often-reliable Ming-Chi Kuo has dropped one last nugget of info on the Apple rumor mill to start us off, and this time the focus is on wireless charging. It’s been suggested numerous times over the past year that the next batch of iPhones would finally go all-in on wireless charging, and if Kuo’s report is accurate that seems to be the case, but there’s one little catch: Your first iPhone wireless charger probably won’t be made by Apple at all.
Per Kuo’s report, the iPhone 8, iPhone 8 Plus, and iPhone X will all support wireless charging. Unfortunately, Apple couldn’t actually produce its own first-party wireless charging pads in time for the launch of the phones. Thankfully, the Qi charging standard will be supported, so third party wireless charging pads will be able to fill in where Apple can’t.
Apple is apparently still developing its own charging pad, and has suffered some setbacks that prevented the device (or devices) from being suitable for mass production. There’s no word on just how long we’ll be waiting for an Apple-branded charging pad, though the company’s “when it’s good enough” mantra likely applies here.
“Apple’s own-brand wireless charger is not expected to debut at the media event,” Kuo explains in a note to investors. “Which we believe is primarily because Apple has higher requirements for wireless charger RF specifications, so there will be no definite mass production timetable prior to technological breakthroughs. However, the new iPhone models supports the WPC standard, so we think users will be able to purchase and use non-Apple WPC-compliant wireless chargers with the new iPhone models.”
We’re now just moments from seeing the iPhone X and its brethren in the flesh (well, metal and glass), so we won’t have to wait long to find out exactly how accurate this report is.
