A Chinese report today covered advances coming to wireless charging. Apple's iPhone 8 and iPhone X used the 7.5W specification. Other industry players are introducing "True 10W" fast charger. The report stated that it is expected that Apple will introduce a faster charger on at least one of the new iPhone models debuting next month.

The Qi Standard to Adopt Apple's Fixed-Frequency Voltage Regulation Scheme

According to the report ,"Wireless chargers currently have the status of "no certification, it is difficult to sell", and certification or not represents security. The latest version of Qi specification is 1.2.4 officially released in March 2018. The most significant update of this version is to incorporate the fixed-frequency voltage regulation scheme used by Apple into Qi's standard, which also means that it is faster to pass Qi certification in the future. The charging scheme must adopt Apple's architecture, which is of great help to Apple to become its wireless ecosystem and further become an industry leader.

One 2018 iPhone 'Expected' to Offer Faster Wireless Charging

The new iPhone, which will be launched in 2018, will also be adjusted in the design of wireless charging, and it is expected to become an indicator of market development. The coil design will shift From FPC to a copper wire wound coil.

As for the copper wire wound coil scheme, although the thickness is thicker, the goal of higher power and higher charging efficiency can be achieved, and according to industry sources, the cost of the copper wire coil is lower than that of the FPC. Since high power and high efficiency are the trend of wireless charging, it is expected that at least one of the three iPhones in 2018 will abandon the FPC to adopt a copper coil solution to achieve the above goal, and because the copper wire coil resistance is small. It can also offset the thermal effects generated by the increase in power.

The fact that the article states that "it is expected" that one of the 2018 iPhones will abandon FPC, is not a rumor that's definitive. It's speculation based on their view that Apple doesn't want Samsung to get too ahead of them.

The report later notes that "In terms of types, ferrite and the current mainstream materials, the ferrite technology adopted by Apple is mature, but the performance is poor. The magnetic permeability of the nano crystal used by Samsung's flagship machine is relatively high. From Apple, it is expected that the FPC will be abandoned. In terms of magnetic materials, it is expected that nanocrystals will be used in the same way as Samsung.

At present, Qi's specification after version 1.2 supports 15W for quick charging. Whether Apple will take the leap to that level from the current 7.5W is unknown at this time and the Chinese article didn't confim that.

The Possible Win for AirPower

The Chinese report goes on to talk about the challenges of AirPower. "It is reported that in order to charge three devices of different specifications and sizes, such as iPhone, Apple Watch and AirPod, it is necessary to set multiple sensors inside the charger to detect the area to be charged, and in order to achieve on the charging board. The target that can be charged at any position, the internal charging elements (coils) of different sizes must cover the entire charging plate area, so the coils will overlap each other.

It is a major challenge for AirPower technology to take into account the above factors and prevent overheating. If Apple can successfully overcome these challenges, AirPower will greatly increase the degree of freedom in charging placement and simultaneous charging of multiple devices.

Over the weekend Patently Apple posted a report titled "Four more Patents Surface covering AirPower and the Inductive Module for iPhone X." The research and patents that Apple has filed regarding AirPower goes to show that Apple is actually working on a breakthrough in wireless chargers. You could review the multi-page Chinese report here.

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