After a long time waiting for it, we finally have wireless charging on new Apple products: the Apple Watch Series 3, the AirPods box and the new iPhones (8, 8 Plus and X). But the Big Apple not only announced support for induction charging, it also introduced a new device called AirPower, a charging base for multiple devices.
The charging plate is responsible for charging three devices at the same time and, apparently, is the first board to take advantage of the Qi protocol on which wireless charging is based to charge several devices through a process that we tell you after the jump. In addition, it is believed that Apple will not allow the charging of third-party devices that support the Qi protocol.
Apple will limit compatible AirPower devices
Products based on the Qi wireless charging protocol allow the loading of devices compatible with the protocol regardless of other details. As the load bases presented last Tuesday as Belkin's with a price of 64,95 euros.
The operation of these products that allow charging devices without cable is very simple to explain, but somewhat more complicated to understand. The Qi protocol is based on the induction of two coils supplying power to a device (receiver). The charging base of any product has the transmitter coil inside it, which will be responsible for generating a magnetic field to induce alternating current to the device in question.
There are two ways of placing the coils: a fixed position, in which the coils are aligned with each other, so the device will only load in one determined position. On the other hand, there is the free positioning, that include other magnetic elements that allow more freedom of position to the energy receiver, as in the new Apple AirPower.
This is believed to be the technology used by the AirPower, an Apple wireless charging dock, in which they can be loaded three devices at the same time, an innovation in induction charging. Some executives of the Wireless Charging Consortium, to which Apple belongs, They claim that Apple will restrict AirPower-compatible devices.
On the other hand, they are sure that the Big Apple will share the technology used to design and make the AirPower possible, in order to bring society closer to the ubiquitous access to wireless charging.
We will have to see at what price it goes on sale, I do not make it less than € 200 given the price that the competition's Qi bases are worth, which are only compatible with a single device.
I would only recommend this product to people who have all three Apple devices. Shortly, with iPhone compatibility with wireless charging, manufacturers will be putting the batteries in and pulling out a lot of compatible bases and there will be more affordable models to kick.
Of course, it seems to me that the animations that the phone does when putting it on the base in which we can see from the main screen the amount of charge of each device, they will only be activated with the AirPower (Apple's Qi base). In the other bases, only the battery bar will appear on the screen as it has been doing until now.
Hi Odalie, I think the battery indicator for each device will appear anyway. I say this because it is enough to connect devices to the iPhone so that their battery information appears, whether they are bluetooth headphones, Apple Watch, etc.
I think we are not referring to the same battery indicator. The battery indicator of course comes out, I mean a small animation that appears just when placed on the Qi base, in which the device rotates around the iPhone screen and is placed as a permanent notification.
That is exactly what I was referring to and that I think will be exclusive to the AirPower, since in the videos that have come out so far where the new iPhones are placed in compatible bases, although they show the battery indicator, it has not been seen that the battery pops up. animation.