Apple may soon Switch to Wireless Charging Technology for iPhone and iPad

As rumour has it you might be charging an iPhone or iPad while it's still in your bag or pocket or in your hands. Apple is reportedly working on distance-charging tech for iPhones and iPads.

Apple Cupertino, California-based company is developing new wireless charging tech for iPhones that could be ready as soon as 2017, Bloomberg reported Friday, citing unnamed sources familiar with Apple's plans.

Wireless charging technology is not new. Several iPhone rivals have incorporated it, allowing people to drop their phones on a charging mat instead of fiddling with cables. Apple is reportedly investigating ways to charge iPhones and iPads from farther distance. That poses a challenge because efficiency decreases with distance, so it takes longer to charge a battery.

This challenge is not new to Apple, so this could even be ready before 2017. The USB cables you use to charge devices are flimsy and inconvenient. Long-distance wireless charging could let you juice up your phone without taking it out of your bag or pocket and continue charging it while you use it at your desk.

Apple has adopted some advances later than rivals, including large-screen phones and near-field communications (NFC) technology used for tap-and-pay transactions, and there are some good reasons a phone maker may wait to adopt wireless charging. One is that multiple incompatible standards mean a particular charging mat won't necessarily work with your device. Another is that the tech adds some expense and bulk to a phone. And while charging mats can be convenient, they add clutter to a desk and are more expensive than a cable if you want to charge in several locations. 

Google's newest phones, the Nexus 5X and 6P, even dropped the wireless charging featured in predecessors.

So if Apple is working on this technology, it's unlikely to appear in the next devices the company plans to release in March.