New Apple Patent Suggests Wireless Charging May Be Coming Soon
by Joe White
June 8, 2011
A recently filed patent application suggests that Apple may be planning on adding a wireless charging feature to its products soon.
While the company's recent WWDC keynote presentation concentrated on "PC free" iOS devices, users still have to plug-in to a wall outlet in order charge an iPhone or iPad.
However, a new patent application suggests that Apple may be planning on building a near-field magnetic resolution (NFMR) power supply right into iMac computers. This kind of power supply would allow iMacs to charge iPhones, iPads, keyboards and other accessories wirelessly.
Furthermore, you won't even need to buy a brand new iMac in order to take advantage of this feature (if it lands). Instead, plug an Apple-developed NFMR dongle into your computer, and you'll be good to charge-and-go.
According to the patent, the range is limited to one meter. However, if this can't be boosted (we think it probably will), a one meter radius is still very manageable. Anything that means I can burn those white USB cables sounds like good news to me.
Let us know your thoughts in the comments.
[via Engadget]