We all raised our eyebrows when Apple removed the headphone jack from the iPhone 7, but we’d probably all be glad to see the back of charging cables.
The good news is that indeed seems to be the plan at Apple. Documents uncovered by VentureBeat show that Apple has in fact been in talks with wireless charging startup Energous for some time now.
Energous is developing WattUp, a transmitter that can send out proprietary waveforms to receivers that are able to isolate a radio frequency into a “pocket”, travelling 15 feet and charging as many as 12 devices at once.
As a smaller company putting out a public offering of stock shares, it puts out prospective information to investors giving details on what its business consists of. Part of this includes generic industry certifications, such as FCC approval. But also sitting clearly is mention of “Apple compliance testing”.
Bye-bye plugs
It’s a very specific reference to make, nestled between notes for industry-wide approval processes, suggesting that Apple is at least thinking about WattUp designs for inclusion in future products.
What’s particularly interesting is that the mentions of Apple date back as far as March 2014 in Apple materials. So it’s a feature that’s been bubbling up in the labs of Cupertino for a while now too.
Energous itself had teased that it was working with “one of the top five consumer electronics companies.”
But Energous is now downplaying the relationship. In response to the VentureBeat article, reps for Energous stated that “the SEC filing statement from 2014 blankets any future anticipated testing and is not indicative of specific partners.”
That won’t stop people speculating about wireless charging in the iPhone 8,