Everyone’s got an iPhone, don’t they? I mean, if you don’t have an iPhone do you really even have a phone? And the latest feature coming soon for Apple phones users to enjoy is AirPower, aka wireless charging.
The company say about AirPower on their site: “How do you make an iPhone designed for a wireless world? By building on wireless technology like headphones and advanced networking to introduce easy wireless charging. The glass back, together with an efficient charging system, allows you to simply set iPhone 8 down to charge it up.
“The elegant, ultra-thin new AirPower mat lets you charge multiple devices wirelessly, without requiring them to be fixed in one spot. Just lay up to three compatible devices — like the latest iPhone, Apple Watch and AirPods — anywhere on its surface to charge them simultaneously.”
The super-cool-looking AirPower charger
But before you get your hopes up for this potentially game-charging mobile charging revolution, one tech blogger has claimed that using wireless charging on the iPhone X, iPhone 8, or iPhone 8 Plus is harmful to the devices’ batteries.
ZDNet blogger Adrian Kingsley-Hughes found that using wireless charging caused him to speed through battery cycles much more quickly. In fact, he expects that he’ll hit 500 complete charge cycles at around the 20-month mark (rather than 3 years for the average iPhone battery).
Kingsley-Hughes explains:
“The issue is that when the iPhone is being charged using a cable, the phone is being powered by the cord (there is some load on the battery, but it’s minimal), but when using wireless charging, the battery is what’s powering the iPhone, with the wireless charger only being used to top up the battery. This means that by switching from a cable to a wireless charger, my battery isn’t getting a break, and in turn, this is making me go through recharge cycles at an even faster rate.”
We’ve reached out to Apple and will let you know what they say.
AirPower is expected to be launched to the public later this year.
Read more: 11 great iPhone hacks you probably never knew about
(Images: Unsplash / Apple)
