Report: Apple working on long-distance wireless charging for future iPhones

Enlarge / The Apple Watch charger is Apple's first foray into wireless charging, although functionally it might as well be a wired charger. (credit: Andrew Cunningham)

Apple is actively working on a wireless charging method for future iPhones, according to "people familiar with the plans" speaking to Bloomberg Business. Apple is hoping that the technology, which could be ready for public consumption by 2017, will be more efficient than current wireless charging methods. Today, Apple uses wireless inductive charging for the Apple Watch, but the watch still needs to sit directly on top of its magnetic cradle to charge.

Competing Android and Windows Phone handsets have included support for wireless charging for some time, though even now it's hardly a standard feature. Most low-end phones don't support it, and the feature comes and goes in high-end phones depending on what the phone is made of, which company made it, and which wireless carrier is selling it. And even when wireless charging is supported, the fact that there are multiple competing standards hasn't helped (though some companies are working on that).

The biggest problems with the technology are that, despite ongoing advancements, your phone and charger still need to be very close together to work, and wireless charging isn't very efficient compared to a good old wire. Apple isn't the only company looking to solve both of those problems—a Ukranian startup named XE has already shown off a wireless charger with a radius of 16 feet (5-ish meters), large enough that simply being in the same room with the charger could deliver power to your devices. XE plans to offer cases that support today's iPhones once the tech makes it to market.