Here's the thing I discovered using a similar, flat charging matt. The way the sport watch bands sit, if you lay the watch flat, it starts to lift up in the middle, pulling the back of the watch far enough away from the matt that it doesn't consistently charge. Also, your sport loop or other closed watch band will prevent you from charging unless you take at least one end off. So a flat AirPower may not be able to charge the watch without removing the bands. Not ideal.
An A11? I wonder how that might affect pricing and if they plan to add more (expandable?) functionality to it to squeeze more out of the A11. Or if it it will be a stripped back version of the A11.
For the rumoured functionality at present, it seems there should be no end of chips on the market to handle those areas.
More than likely, the A11 was chosen as it has the first dedicated Neural Engine in an A Series SOC, and I would speculate that it is a binned part at a lower clock than the iPhone.
Not only that, the A11 is a hexa-core CPU, with two high-performance Monsoon cores and four energy-efficient Mistral cores. They could be using just one or two of the Mistral cores in a binned part. The GPU and motion co-processors don't need to be active.
tmay is probably right, the Neural Engine hardware is more efficient than the CPU and GPU for certain tasks and it may find a use here.
Or it could be a prototype stand-in if they are expecting a dedicated chip. Apple already has designed a bunch of customized chips beyond the well-publicized A series SoCs found in iPhones and iPads.
So this means we’re now relying on software to stop it bursting into flames?
Mmmm.
All lithium chargers have some sort of computer circuit to regulate charging, if it isn’t built into the device, so that things won’t overheat and explode.
Reminds me of another device (much bigger) that was trying to solve a physical design limitation with software. Will you trust it unattended to not set your house on fire?
Sounds like Apple is exploring a proprietary solution to wireless charging.
Is wireless charging necessary to expand the wearables market?
Sure seems like it. That’s why Apple isn’t letting this go even after previous failures. It’s strategically necessary to make this work, and is probably holding up numerous other product ideas.
Come on, people, you’re missing the obvious. The HomePod uses an A8, which is massive overkill for a speaker. Unless you take into account beamforming and real-time signal processing.
The A11 is likely required to perform the necessary processing to allow beamforming. This would allow a device to be charged anywhere on a pad and the minimum number of coils would be active to send power to the exact location your device is sitting.
Sounds like Apple is exploring a proprietary solution to wireless charging.
Is wireless charging necessary to expand the wearables market?
Sure seems like it. That’s why Apple isn’t letting this go even after previous failures. It’s strategically necessary to make this work, and is probably holding up numerous other product ideas.
Good luck Apple!
Doesn't really sound like that at all to me. Sounds more like they may have finally found a way to make their already proprietary AW wireless charging work in conjunction with standard Qi wireless charging, which is what they use on the iPhones and AirPods. It was rumored back when they cancelled AirPower the AW charging was the culprit in the cancellation (it's what I believed too). The proprietary signal didn't play nice with the standard Qi signal and things got heated - literally and metaphorically. Based on this rumor, it seems the A11 can referee the signal noise and keep the heat down to acceptable levels.
I doubt they'll go proprietary again. Makes no sense. I could be wrong, but...
Wow. I guessed the original AirPower employed this strategy from the start. I suppose it was not as sophisticated as expected.
The laws of physics can't change, so the central problem all along has been how to manage the output from the multiple overlapping coils needed to allow free placement.
Aira appears to have the most advanced technology in this area with FreePower, so maybe Apple should just consider writing a check for the company.
And the sooner that Apple frees the Watch from its captive puck, and proprietary charging, the better.
Umm that’s gonna be an expensive charging pad. Although ones from Belkin and Nomad are pretty steep too.
It’s Apple so it will sell. They can polish a turd, slap their logo on it, and BOOM!!...sold for $299.99.
Oh, the “But Apple is all just marketing!” troll trope. Been a while. Sorry, but no...you’re full of so much “nonsense”. If you think Apple products are turds why are you here whining about them every day? Talk about neurosis.
Is there any advantage to charging an AW flat? Every charging solution that I've seen, that looks even remotely functional, has the AW being charged at a right angle or at 15-30 degrees. It would seem awkward to charge an AW on a flat mat and it loses any of the utility of the screen. Place anywhere charging is a solved problem. Incorporating the AW charging only seems to add complexity with no tangible benefit. To me this seems more like an exercise that answers the question of "Why?" with "because we can".
Not at all. Placing the watch flat allows for one charging mat to charge all three devices without the need for another charging cable or weird arm/dock jutting out. For a travel solution this is ideal — one cable, one mat, next to no space. So far no product does this. Day 1 buy.
Come on, people, you’re missing the obvious. The HomePod uses an A8, which is massive overkill for a speaker. Unless you take into account beamforming and real-time signal processing.
The A11 is likely required to perform the necessary processing to allow beamforming. This would allow a device to be charged anywhere on a pad and the minimum number of coils would be active to send power to the exact location your device is sitting.
Guess it will allow us to move around devices at a 22mio times per second
Here's the thing I discovered using a similar, flat charging matt. The way the sport watch bands sit, if you lay the watch flat, it starts to lift up in the middle, pulling the back of the watch far enough away from the matt that it doesn't consistently charge. Also, your sport loop or other closed watch band will prevent you from charging unless you take at least one end off. So a flat AirPower may not be able to charge the watch without removing the bands. Not ideal.
What flat charging mat are you using that charges an Apple Watch (that isn’t using some weird way to basically integrate the charging puck that comes with every Apple Watch)?
Is there any advantage to charging an AW flat? Every charging solution that I've seen, that looks even remotely functional, has the AW being charged at a right angle or at 15-30 degrees. It would seem awkward to charge an AW on a flat mat and it loses any of the utility of the screen. Place anywhere charging is a solved problem. Incorporating the AW charging only seems to add complexity with no tangible benefit. To me this seems more like an exercise that answers the question of "Why?" with "because we can".
The advantage isn’t in charging the AW in a horizontal position. The advantage is that I can have one place to put my AW, iPhone and AirPods every night when I go to bed. If this product sees the light of day that place will be on my nightstand, directly next to my bed.
Currently I have an iPhone dock next to my bed and my Apple Watch charger on my dresser. I use the dock to charge my AirPods when it it’s free of charging my phone. The AW charger (or a Lightning cable without a dock) is constantly slipping off of whatever surface I place it on so I have to find something to put the cable under to keep it in place. All of that is a little bit of pain. My wife found some little clip thing that attaches to her nightstand and can keep 3 Lightning cables in place but it’s kinda ugly, inelegant and still looks messy with cables everywhere.
Having one mat that uses one cable but charges 3 devices would be a welcome change. I imagine the mat would be heavy enough not to slide around from the weight of the cable attached to it. Another plus is that I would have 1 thing to pack when I travel.
What is it so complicated that you need such a powerful (and presumably expensive?) CPU?
If only there were an article somewhere that one could read, and that could help explain these questions...
Yeah, but the AI article regarding it makes zero sense and doesn't go into any actual detail.
If you cannot make sense of "Using the A11," he continues, "this new prototype has the ability to route power to specific coil regions and can dynamically wait for temperatures to drop before applying more power - preventing it from overheating." while at the same time feeling that this explanation is lacking in detail, then this article is both too technical and too basic at the same time.
„To manage power supplied to the individual coils depending upon temperature“ seems like a pretty useful description to me.
Reminds me of another device (much bigger) that was trying to solve a physical design limitation with software. Will you trust it unattended to not set your house on fire?
Well considering I already trust the software in my iPhone, iPad, and MacBook Pro to not burn my house down, I’m going to say yes on this.
Come on, people, you’re missing the obvious. The HomePod uses an A8, which is massive overkill for a speaker. Unless you take into account beamforming and real-time signal processing.
The A11 is likely required to perform the necessary processing to allow beamforming. This would allow a device to be charged anywhere on a pad and the minimum number of coils would be active to send power to the exact location your device is sitting.
The HomePod could easily use a more powerful SoC. It isn’t just a speaker, its a hub for HomeKit, Siri, etc. eventually Apple seems to want it to play an even bigger role, according to their statements.
What is it so complicated that you need such a powerful (and presumably expensive?) CPU?
Do you really think Apple threw it in there for shits and giggles? If they added it then it must be necessary. Read the article to find out what those reasons are.
Umm that’s gonna be an expensive charging pad. Although ones from Belkin and Nomad are pretty steep too.
It’s Apple so it will sell. They can polish a turd, slap their logo on it, and BOOM!!...sold for $299.99.
And what does it say about someone like you, who takes the energy register and continually post on a forum that, in your own words, is dedicated to a company that has achieved it success and reputation by "polishing turds"?
You fucking worthless troll.
Comments
And no, this chip won't add $100 to the price tag.
tmay is probably right, the Neural Engine hardware is more efficient than the CPU and GPU for certain tasks and it may find a use here.
Or it could be a prototype stand-in if they are expecting a dedicated chip. Apple already has designed a bunch of customized chips beyond the well-publicized A series SoCs found in iPhones and iPads.
Is wireless charging necessary to expand the wearables market?
Good luck Apple!
I doubt they'll go proprietary again. Makes no sense. I could be wrong, but...
Not at all. Placing the watch flat allows for one charging mat to charge all three devices without the need for another charging cable or weird arm/dock jutting out. For a travel solution this is ideal — one cable, one mat, next to no space. So far no product does this. Day 1 buy.
Currently I have an iPhone dock next to my bed and my Apple Watch charger on my dresser. I use the dock to charge my AirPods when it it’s free of charging my phone. The AW charger (or a Lightning cable without a dock) is constantly slipping off of whatever surface I place it on so I have to find something to put the cable under to keep it in place. All of that is a little bit of pain. My wife found some little clip thing that attaches to her nightstand and can keep 3 Lightning cables in place but it’s kinda ugly, inelegant and still looks messy with cables everywhere.
Having one mat that uses one cable but charges 3 devices would be a welcome change. I imagine the mat would be heavy enough not to slide around from the weight of the cable attached to it. Another plus is that I would have 1 thing to pack when I travel.
"Using the A11," he continues, "this new prototype has the ability to route power to specific coil regions and can dynamically wait for temperatures to drop before applying more power - preventing it from overheating."
while at the same time feeling that this explanation is lacking in detail, then this article is both too technical and too basic at the same time.