Contradictory report cites 5 Apple wireless charging teams on 'iPhone 8,' no tech breakthr...
A new report highlights Apple's involvement with wireless charging protocol specification Qi's organizing body, and claims that Apple's iPhone moves are driven more by marketing needs than by any particular drive for innovation in new products.
On Thursday, a report from Reuters noted that Apple's anniversary phone, commonly referred to as the "iPhone 8," is coming, but claims that "a radical new design is not expected." The report cites two-year and growing consumer iPhone upgrade cycles and "Apple's own business and marketing needs" as the prime movers to what technologies are included in any new iPhone.
"When a market gets saturated, the growth is all about refresh," said Bob O'Donnell of Technalysis Research to Reuters. "This is exactly what happened to PCs. It's exactly what happened to tablets. It's starting to happen to smartphones."
As an example of Apple's slow technology adoption, the report cites wireless charging, which is said to be included in one form or another in the iPhone 8. According to unnamed sources familiar with the matter, there are at least five different groups working with Apple on the technology -- despite there being only two main suppliers and developers of the tech.
One well-developed technology, Qi, utilizes one coil inside a compatible device phone needing rough alignment with a matching coil on a designated pad. Apple is a member of the Wireless Power Consortium, the governing body behind the Qi charging standard.
The competing Airfuel specification supports a coil as well as magnetic resonance which does not need to be placed in the same proximity, or accuracy, as a device with a Qi coil. Apple has no known affiliation with the Airfuel specification group.
Other technologies expected to be in the $1000 and up "iPhone 8" include glass-sandwich design, a laser-based 3d facial recognition scanner, and a fingerprint sensor and FaceTime camera embedded behind the front display.
The "iPhone 7s," also expected in the fall, may include some or none of these new technologies also noted by the Reuters report. It is not clear why Reuters believes that the inclusion of these features won't constitute a "radical new design" for an "iPhone 8," however.
"iPhone set the standard for mobile computing in its first decade and we are just getting started," said Apple CEO Tim Cook on the anniversary of the iPhone. "The best is yet to come."
On Thursday, a report from Reuters noted that Apple's anniversary phone, commonly referred to as the "iPhone 8," is coming, but claims that "a radical new design is not expected." The report cites two-year and growing consumer iPhone upgrade cycles and "Apple's own business and marketing needs" as the prime movers to what technologies are included in any new iPhone.
"When a market gets saturated, the growth is all about refresh," said Bob O'Donnell of Technalysis Research to Reuters. "This is exactly what happened to PCs. It's exactly what happened to tablets. It's starting to happen to smartphones."
As an example of Apple's slow technology adoption, the report cites wireless charging, which is said to be included in one form or another in the iPhone 8. According to unnamed sources familiar with the matter, there are at least five different groups working with Apple on the technology -- despite there being only two main suppliers and developers of the tech.
One well-developed technology, Qi, utilizes one coil inside a compatible device phone needing rough alignment with a matching coil on a designated pad. Apple is a member of the Wireless Power Consortium, the governing body behind the Qi charging standard.
The competing Airfuel specification supports a coil as well as magnetic resonance which does not need to be placed in the same proximity, or accuracy, as a device with a Qi coil. Apple has no known affiliation with the Airfuel specification group.
Other technologies expected to be in the $1000 and up "iPhone 8" include glass-sandwich design, a laser-based 3d facial recognition scanner, and a fingerprint sensor and FaceTime camera embedded behind the front display.
The "iPhone 7s," also expected in the fall, may include some or none of these new technologies also noted by the Reuters report. It is not clear why Reuters believes that the inclusion of these features won't constitute a "radical new design" for an "iPhone 8," however.
"iPhone set the standard for mobile computing in its first decade and we are just getting started," said Apple CEO Tim Cook on the anniversary of the iPhone. "The best is yet to come."
Comments
Got it to hand it Cook. He said he'd double down on leaks, and by the looks of the clueless guesswork swamping the internet, he's done just that.
http://appleinsider.com/articles/16/10/25/apple-invention-uses-ferrofluids-to-enhance-induction-charging-performance
Referring to possible new 3D sensors: "That sensor could be upgraded to a higher-resolution version that could handle 3-D mapping for facial recognition, said Jim Morrison, vice president at TechInsights.
Some analysts also speculate the company could remove the phone's home button, placing it and a fingerprint sensor beneath the front display glass, based on patents the company has filed."
So in short, the phone is rumored to have a radical redesign and many new features, but isn't expected to be a radical redesign or include many new features...
Apple is likely working with Energous to revolutionize wireless charging via distance. It uses 1 tiny chip that is capable of contact clear up to 15 feet of distance charging. Everyone will get contact charging for very cheap and those who want distance will need to buy the transmitter device which I predict is a Siri home device.
You might say we're only talking about a few thousand milliamps, but take that times 2 or 3 billion devices mostly charged everyday, and hello more global climate change.
I will stick with wired charging for as long as it's available.
OK, you may now return to your wish-listing as Gaia weeps.....
...following which, the product will sell very well anyway, suggesting that media hocus-pocus isn't fooling anyone — either because consumers see through it or because their passion drowns it out.
Despite everything, the tech punditry continue to play the same hand. Why? Are they compensated by competitors? Are they fearful of being reviled as fanboys? Are they blinded by resentment? Or do readership analytics favour negative reporting? Damn, deception and bias seem to be everywhere.
In the modern company, especially of that size, it's mostly marketing (the product dev side of marketing) that's the most important.
Detecting which future market trends needs to be catered to is a main input into strategic decisions.
A big difference between Apple and the rest of the industry is their relationship with their clients and that has been reflected in how their products and services have been developed.
For Apple, tech is a tool to reach it's "improve client's life" goal, not the main focus; It's implementation and integration of tech, and not the tech itself that has led Apple were it is. Tech is best when you don't know it exists.
Put out those all together and you have a hostile narrative.
I think it's more that they're sure they're going to be right eventually, and then they can claim to have called it in advance. They don't change their line, because if this time is the time they're right, they don't want to look stupid for having changed their mind just beforehand. Besides, it's not like they ever have to face any consequences for being wrong.
So, for what it's worth, I predict the 10th Anniversary iPhone 8 X will include totally wireless charging, by tapping into the Earth's magnetic field requiring no external power source, have an internal hologram projector for 3D Facetime, and come with a personal protection Force Field that will protect not only the phone, but also the user in the case of sudden impacts or accidents.
Despite all this, it will look exactly like the iPhone 7, and therefore Apple clearly can't innovate anymore, and they are obviously doomed.
Beyond that wireless charging strikes me as a solution to a problem that doesn't exist. Unless Apple release an iPhone that is completely sealed, to make it water proof, I really don't seen advantage for the consumer. It just means more expensive parts (chargers) when something goes bad. It also screws with the idea of picking up power almost anywhere due to the wide availability of USB outlets.
Paint me an unconvinced! I know many are excited about this technology but I really have to ask why?
What is more funny is that Apple is a very left leaning company yet it is attacked by the left leaning media. Makes no sense really. There does seem to be a general trend of the last few months though for the media to print articles obviously issued from their asses. This is probably due to the fact that once you burn credibility no amount of garbage matters anymore. It is a strange time we live in where the make believe is given more worth than reality.
Ah yes the personal defense shield model! What is sad is that we might see your projections here actually trumpeted by one of these rumor mongers in a couple of weeks. of course the text will be obfuscated to make the source hard to verify. Ticks of the trade of being an analyst.