How Does Inductive Charging Fit Into the iPhone 5 19-Pin/Micro USB Rumors?
Posted by Michael Nace on Thursday Jun 28, 2012 Under Apple Rumors, iPhone 5 Opinion
While the iPhone 5 rumor mill has been fixed on claims of new 19-pin and/or micro-USB connectivity, a new patent reveals designs for an iOS device that utilizes inductive charging.
We know we’re desperate for the iPhone 5 when the fate of the dock connector becomes the center of the rumor mill. This isn’t to say that Apple changing from their 30-pin dock connector to either a smaller 19-pin design or the universal micro-USB variety isn’t important — we all know that the change would affect an entire swath of consumer electronics accessories companies and users with 30-pin accessories — but the notion of the dock connector changing is a far cry from the sexier hardware upgrades expected for the iPhone 5, such as the larger display, LTE, NFC, and a form factor overhaul.
A lesser-reported rumored feature that relates to the discussion of the dock connector (at least in terms of recharging) is gaining traction, however. An interesting Apple patent for implementing inductive charging onto an iOS device could essentially do away with the need for cable connections altogether.
The patent highlight was reported by Patently Apple, which:
…illustrates a docking station that includes a reradiating antenna and an inductive charging circuit for inductively charging a handheld device. As shown, the dock housing is configured to receive a handheld device. While the dock housing is shown to receive the handheld device in an upright position, other dock housing configurations for receiving the handheld device along its other sides are also possible. The dock housing is further configured to enable charging the battery of the handheld device through an inductive charge coupling mechanism, and to also provide improved wireless communication by integrating the reradiating antenna as shown. The charge circuit is connected between the inductive charge coupling mechanism and a port for receiving power.
Particularly interesting in the Patently Apple report is this line: “The dock housing is further configured to enable charging the battery of the handheld device through an inductive charge coupling mechanism, and to also provide improved wireless communication by integrating the reradiating antenna as shown,” since the inductive charging patent would have implications not only on charging the iPhone 5′s battery, but also improving wireless communication, which relates directly to the notion that inductive charging on the iPhone 5 could be coupled with this loosely rumored “AirShare” or similar technology that would allow fluid, wireless data sharing as well.
In effect, cables would no longer be necessary for the transfer of data or charging.
9to5Mac reminds us that while “Apple is expected to unveil a smaller, redesigned dock connector with the next-generation iPhone . . . The Wall Street Journal reported in July of last year that Apple was working on ‘a new way of charging’ future iPhones.”
This could be it.
I’ve written a few times on this blog about the genius of the USB port: the ability for a cable and connector to transfer both data and power is truly one of the most underrated pieces of technology associated with the computer age. I wouldn’t even be surprised if someday we see standard electrical sockets in homes replaced with USB or USB-like sockets, which would in essence allow virtually any electrical device to be “smart.” But for as much as the USB and similar connectors — such as Apple’s current proprietary 30-pin connector — the notion of wireless charging is much more in line with next-generation mobile technology.
We’ve already seen Apple move into the realm of OTA software updates. More recently, we’re seen the rise of NFC-related technologies that allow data transfers to occur between devices by simply touching one another, using bluetooth, etc. It’s clear that we’re moving in the direction of wireless data transfer. Because of this, Apple could see it as a strong selling point to debut inductive charging on the iPhone 5, including a special dock in the package. Some have suggested that the somewhat strange two-toned metal back of the rumored iPhone 5 images published by 9to5Mac could be the product of an inductive charging system, though it is unclear if it would be necessary for the iPhone 5 to necessarily have an exposed meta back for an inductive charging system, as other wirelessly charged electronics currently on the market — such as electric shavers — still feature plastic housing around internal contacts.
Also, there is a concern that inductive charging, while convenient, is not necessarily the highest quality of charging.
For as much as the USB is an impressive invention, it does not offer the same quality of charging compared to direct AC charging. Anyone who has ever recharged a mobile device from a USB connected to a laptop versus directly via AC knows that the charge is never as strong. Inductive charging — at least in its current forms — has similar problems.
Given the stress that the iPhone 4Ss anemic battery life caused to its early adopters, one would assume that Apple would not gamble with inductive charging on the iPhone 5 unless they were absolutely certain that it could offer charge quality and battery longevity comparable to the iPhone 4. But assuming that Apple could deliver on effective inductive charging technology, the need for a 19-pin or micro USB adaptor could become a thing of the past.
And we could see this as soon as 2012 with the release of the iPhone 5.
By Michael Nace
Michael Nace is the Publisher of the iPhone 5 News Blog and iPhone 6 News Blog. He has published articles about the iPhone since 2010.
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June 28th, 2012 at 11:34 am
i agree with the pros and cons presented in this article about inductive charging, and based on my wild imagination and the coil-like parts I saw(or imaginied) on the leaked “new iphone” pics i can see this being a feature in the upcoming iPhone release.
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June 28th, 2012 at 12:58 pm
If they use this technology, I wouldn’t care if it takes a long time to charge… As long as I could just set my phone flat on my nightstand, wake up, pick it up and go. That’d save me about 2 seconds time instead of using a plug each morning and night
lol
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June 28th, 2012 at 1:45 pm
I made a comment yesterday about this and the fact that we might not need to have a dock connector at all if inductive charging was used.
I also said that the only reason I could think of for having a cable connection (or a dock connector) would be to backup/restore the phone and at the time couldn’t think of any other reason for having one.
Well the other reason is glaringly obvious in that a dock connector would be needed for all those third party devices!
I have now rebooted myself and should not be excessively silly for a while. A tip of the hat for the article though!
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June 28th, 2012 at 1:56 pm
……. of course the third party devices could use Bluetooth or a form of Airshare to communicate but then how would Apple restrict the use to authorised equipment only.
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June 28th, 2012 at 2:24 pm
I ENJOY YOUR BLOG BUT CAN YOU PLEASE MOVE ON TO SOMETHING ELSE BESIDES THIS PIN!!! You’ve spent more than 3 days talking about this 19 pin adapter. I myself really don’t care either way. PLEASE GET BACK TO SOMETHING MORE EXCITING TO READ ABOUT.
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June 28th, 2012 at 3:53 pm
….. and if Apple really are going to implement wireless charging and possible data transfer via enhanced wireless communication, whether by Bluetooth, NFC or WiFi then what is the point of changing to a 19 pin connector now just so we all have to change again?
Maybe one of these rumours are for a distant ‘New iPhone’, maybe only one is true or maybe we are being led right up the garden path.
How long does it take to have a product patent ratified anyway?
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June 28th, 2012 at 4:46 pm
Before reading this, Ill sum it up so none of you waste your time.
There’s an issue with having a switch to charge or not to charge if you’re ever in the “charging zone.”
I simply go over the negativities of NOT being able to choose whether or not you can disable wireless charging.
Yes the switch is very easy to make, but I didn’t see it mentioned, so I took the time to talk about it myself.
END OF SUMMARY^^^
I know a whole lot of people have the idea that eventually every starbucks, movie theater, college, and even our homes, will be sending out the wireless charging so that all we have to do is be in the zone, and our phones will never die. They will always be fully charged.
That’d make it more comforting to know that if you ever get lost, you have a really long time to be able to use your phone.
Or simply if you aren’t in the zone temporarily, you don’t have to worry about your phone dying because soon enough the next store you go to will be charging it right when you walk in.
—-Well there’s a problem with all of that—–
Is there a switch to be able to choose whether or not to charge it or not when its in the “zone” or whatever for inductive charging?
Everyone’s talked about the charging wirelessly everywhere you go but I never heard of someone talking about having a switch.
It seems like everyone’s implying that you’d automatically love to charge your phone everywhere you go, but thats wrong because its bad to do so.
If you don’t let the battery go from full to almost dead, over and over again, it hurts the battery life significantly. Like if you constantly let your battery die down to 50% and then charge it up, the overall charge of the battery will not last as long as its suppose to. The more and more people charge it when it isn’t low, the less life the battery will have overall from 100% to 1%.
***EXAMPLE***
Say a brand-new iPhone lasts 12 hours with how much gaming and videos you watch.
From 100 to 0 it lasts 12 hours with the way you use it.
Well if you start letting the phone go down to 50% and then charging it to full, and you do that over and over again,
eventually the phone’s battery will only last 6-8 hours rather than 12 because of the fact that the battery never used the other half of its charge. It only used 50% of the charge and not the full 100%. So the other 50% that you never used gets weaker and weaker over time.
Thats why it’d be important to not make it to where you automatically charge if its “in the zone.”
MOST IMPORTANTLY – It is extremely easy to make a switch to not charge it in the zone. In fact, its so easy and simple to do so, it kind of makes my entire post POINTLESS because I’m 100% sure Apple would know this, and make the switch. So why even bring it up right? Well I brought it up because it seems like I’m the only one thinking about the danger it could do to the battery. All I’ve read about is how helpful it is, but not any of the negative side effects of the overall battery life. I like to look at the whole picture, and literally name off 1 by 1 all of the positives and negatives, and since I didn’t see any negative possibilities about the switch, I decided I’d type it out myself
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June 28th, 2012 at 4:52 pm
ONE MORE THING
I have heard of “new” batteries that don’t require you to run them down to low before charging it back up again, and Ive heard many people saying that the worries are in the past. But thats all marketing. Ive used one of those batteries first hand, and I can personally tell you that when I purposely ran it down to 60% then charged it to full again, the overall battery life from 100 to 0 was significantly reduced, even though they advertised that it would not cause a loss in overall charge. Yeah..it still did. So don’t listen to everything that they tell you. They want your money (no shit lol).
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June 28th, 2012 at 5:54 pm
@GetSwole, as for having a Starbucks and places be charging locations, the power in induction reduces by 1/distance^2 *(I put that it was a cubic function before, but I checked and corrected it here) power (or power needed = power delivered/distance^2), so if, like the picture shows, the inductor is about 5mm from the phone (case and dock included in that distance), and the power output is 10 watts, to achieve the same power coupling at 10mm, you’d need 40 watts (twice the distance is 2^2=4x power), and for 20mm, the power output would have to be 160 watts. If you want a visualization, think of those magnets you had as a kid, and their effect on each other was more effective the closer they got to each other.
@Michael, Love the article! I think that the reason for the improved wireless may be for the fact that inductive charging requires alternating current, like is used in wireless, and if the harmonics of the frequency of the charge interfere with the carrier of the wireless (think of the carrier as the channel on the radio), then it would need to be boosted.
@Muzik, Relax… it’s only 95 days until October 1, then Silly Season 2012, part II will be in full bloom!
@All, there are reasons that inductive charging is good/bad, and technical reasons for it’s popularity not being so much now. A wifi router broadcasts in the low wattage (<5 watts) over your house, so, that wifi antenna is picking up the low power broadcast, so an inductive charging radiator would be a decent source of interference, if the frequency of the charger were not correct. It would probably be a bigger problem for the iphone, rather than other components in the house/building.
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June 28th, 2012 at 5:59 pm
Now that you mention it Michael, I did see some AC wall thingamajiggers with two AC and two USB connectors. I found that cool! As I have mentioned before, WIFI sync sucks whenever I use it so having a physical way to transfer data is a must for me, unless they make some kind of thunderbolt or USB “AirShare” or NFC adapter for my computer which lacks Bluetooth or NFC technology. I’m saving up for a Retina MacBook Pro but that seems to be a LOOOOONG way from me, (I was saving for a Thunderbolt MacBook Pro since it came out and I’m still not even close to a MacBook Air) and it has Bluetooth 4.0 which is an awesome add on.
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June 28th, 2012 at 6:25 pm
Oops…I forgot to add… If Starbucks had an inductive charging zone, and the power grid were in the ceiling, I’d wait about 10 years before going near one, to see the cancer rates on the employees there. To get that 10 watts to the phones 2000mm away (2 meters), it’d need a field of 16,000 watts.
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June 28th, 2012 at 7:59 pm
@GetSwole, I think your comments about battery life are wrong (with the batteries currently used in iPhones). While the old NiCad batteries loved to be run dead flat (and were damaged if you didn’t) the new batteries work better when they are topped up and the advice is NOT to let it run flat if you can help it.
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June 28th, 2012 at 9:24 pm
The advice is to not let the new ones run Full. That’s why the iPad 3 shuts off charging at 90% but iOS tells you it’s at 100%. Apple did that because if you ACTUALLY run the new batteries to the real 100% it shortens the life over time.
So you think the battery is 100% but Apple actually stops the charging at 90%. 90% is labeled as 100% lol. Apple did it on purpose
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June 28th, 2012 at 9:26 pm
@Richard read comment #8
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June 28th, 2012 at 10:03 pm
@Richard, you may be right, I am no battery expert, I am just sharing what I personally learned over the years. For all I know you could know a lot more about it than me
I did do a test on my iPhone 4 though, and for five months I would only let my battery go down to 60%, and after five months the battery did not last as long from 100 to 0. I only lost about 1 hour life, but thats when I stopped the testing and made my own conclusion that its harmful. I haven’t further researched it anymore
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June 28th, 2012 at 11:06 pm
If this does take longer to charge our devices, I’m not sure if I’d be for it. It is convenient, I’ll admit, but still, I remember when my new iPad took almost 12 hours to charge (of course that was attributed to the battery and of course, iOS 6 has fixed that big time). Apple should be working on all these issues we think will go wrong … anticipation is always good when it comes to consumer products. Test and experiment before you release a major product so the experience is as smooth as possible.
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June 29th, 2012 at 2:45 am
See getswole, my problem with letting the battery run to 0% on my iPad is that it takes forever! Even though I use it all the time, it usually takes me 3 days to get there! Not like that’s a problem or anything
.
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June 29th, 2012 at 4:38 am
@Undefeatable, hahaha same here!!! I love the battery life on the iPad 3! It usually takes me 3 days as well lol. I <3 Apple for that
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June 29th, 2012 at 7:48 am
I’m not for the introduction of ubiquitous inductive charging from a health, needlesss power loss and charging time perspective.
There is already more than enough electromagnetic interference out there without adding more just some we don’t have to plug out phone into a cradle and as others have posted, there is a huge power loss involved in this form of charging, someone has to generate that power and someone has to pay for it so it will cost more from both an environmental and money in your pocket POV.
Finally, i’d prefer my phone to charge quickly so when it is low i can give it some juice and get going again 9I am not ignoring those that charge overnight, i do it myself but sometimes i forget or stay away and need to charge my phone in a hurry).
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June 29th, 2012 at 9:27 am
@getswole, yeah, when I first received my iPad 3, I did what I did with all my other apple devices, turned the brightness all the way up! I got about 6-7 hours of battery life doing that. I only did that because the auto brightness never worked for me, until I found out why. Apparently it only goes as low as you have your brightness set at, so it always remained on full, until one day at put it at the bottom, And now, inside, I get days and days. Did the same thing with my iPhone, now I can last the entire day plus some of using my phone. I don’t really see the need of all these super shops with wireless power? All that should happen is apple making the back accept wireless charging, then places can just put pads on tables, and even BUILT into the table. Hell, if apple releases the specs on how to make one for devices, I should design tables for it!
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June 29th, 2012 at 10:36 am
@Getswole, I think you are on to something, though with the inductive charging at the Starbucks… If they had these things in the pictures and you could put your phone on it as you sipped your beverage, that might be a hit with people.
Sooner or later, the other phone companies (HTC, Motorola, etc) would probably follow suit.
After all, inductive charging requires a coil (and that’s easy to reverse engineer) and a charging circuit (essentially a diode and a capacitor), so wirelessly charging devices would be convenient, and not need the different connectors, even though the world is going to micro-usb.
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June 29th, 2012 at 10:37 am
(I guess I should read undfeatable’s post before I post mine…0
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June 29th, 2012 at 5:15 pm
God Jeff, I mean, psss, read before you think.
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July 6th, 2012 at 1:25 am
@Jeff, well if inductive charging can’t be done at high signal across the entire Starbucks,
….
if the iPhone continues to dominate the market for the next few years,
I definitely think iPhone chargers will start to be built into the store. Either on the wall or on the side of the table. Something.
Treadmills at the gym already have iPhone chargers built into them haha. So people can charge their phone while they run. And they are high tech treadmills made by LifeTime Fitness – one of the most luxurious gyms in the United States.
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