AirPower's big promise was that it was a multi-device charging mat that didn't require perfect alignment to get high power charging. Apple ultimately cancelled it, likely because this proved too difficult to do safely. (rumored to be thermal issues with the multi-coil design)
MagSafe solves the alignment problem in a simpler way. Instead of carefully aligning your phone, the magnets just "suck" your phone to the optimal charging position.
It's absurdly strong, much stronger than traditional phone mounts. And I can just grab the phone and go, no fussing with release buttons or whatnot.
https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B01AMGFY5M
I was thinking that it would be nice if we could just standardize something as simple as "stick an iron plate in the back of the phone" but I guess now I see that it would be nice if there was some sort of standard for a Qi charging location relative to whatever metal/magnets are there.
I used hard drive neodymium magnets for awhile, but recently discovered some incredibly strong magnetic strips with an adhesive backing. This gives me way more positioning freedom for my phone. These strips are neodymium and at least ~7 times stronger than every other magnetic strip. (which all use ceramics).
You can find the magnets I'm talking about on McMasterCarr [1] or just search for "NeoFlex magnets". Besides McMasterCarr, I can only find them from European sellers.
IMHO, anyone buying adhesive magnet strips would be happier buying these, but no one advertises any sort of standardized magnetic strength per area unit. This makes the differences very hard to determine for most consumers. The typical flexible ceramic magnets, like this one [3], support 70g/cm2 [4], while the NeoFlex ones I mentioned support 400g/cm2. ( 800lbs/sqft)
Also many people try to stick magnets to magnets, works works for typical magnets, but that doesn't work well at all for the multi-pole magnetic strips like these. It works just enough that people blame the magnets for being weak, when really they might be quite strong if you just used a thin steel plate instead.
[1] https://www.mcmaster.com/catalog/3651K8
[2] https://www.amazon.com/NeoFlex-Flexible-Neodymium-Magnetic-3...
[3] https://www.amazon.com/dp/B005HYA2SE
[4] https://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=12lb+%2F+%281%22+*+12%...
Neodymium magnet I think.
I've never left anything to trade in!
Also people significantly overestimate the amount of current a normal (something you’re gonna encounter in day-to-day life) magnetic field can induce in a wire. There’s a good reason motors are packed with so many windings, you either need an incredibly large magnetic field, or a crap ton of wire, to get an interesting amount of current.
Magnetic fields can saturate ferrites and affect coils, but the slight deviations in few components should be nothing the closed loop circuitry won't handle. You'd need a stronger/closer magnet for that.
Solid state circuits usually have tiny sensitivity to static magnetic fields as opposed to EM waves, which they need to handle gracefully.
I will say having used it, I understand why Apple axed the idea. It is huge and gets hot and I assume it is thicker than Airpower would have been.
https://www.theverge.com/21242641/zens-liberty-review-wirele...
I hate to be a pessimist but with them not including a charger or headphones, they're slowly moving toward no data port whatsoever
They’re definitely getting rid of the port, maybe next year.
Honda is also rumored to be adding wireless support ( https://appleinsider.com/articles/20/10/10/wireless-carplay-... ) for their 2021 Accord model so seems the feature is become available on more affordable cars too.
They even tried to blame Apple for this, only to have their lie publicly called out by Apple. This created such outrage that the decision had to be reversed, but for me that's enough - they showed their true colors and are very likely to come up with further crap in the future.
https://www.theverge.com/2019/12/4/20995630/bmw-apple-carpla...
Oh I just noticed it was discussed here on HN too: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16195529
Today though, BMW is not charging a “subscription” fee and much more importantly, all of their iDrive data is provided for free with free software updates. And yes, competitive pressure probably forced them to, but it is much better than just 5 or 6 years ago where you were charged for yearly map updates by buying a DVD. They are also the first car manufacturer to support the CarKey feature so they have changed (for now anyways).
Apple could make a first-party one.
Wait what? I hope you're just saying it can get scratched or warped with rough/improper use.
It's never gotten bad enough to be a problem with mine, but I'm still happier to be using magnetic charging cables most of the time. That's primarily for the convenience of it, which is significant, but I don't mind that they also preserve the connector.
(They're especially convenient in the car. I have an SE, but even with a phone that supported inductive charging, I suspect I'd stick with the magnetic-mount-and-cable arrangement - it's exactly as convenient as inductive charging, with no risk of compromise on the strength of the mount in order to get one with half a transformer in it.)
The lightning port is not even close to being one of the parts that will wear out first.
Mechanical wear matters for example if you have a Roku, and the buttons in the remote control physically wear out. You can just instead use your phone app to control it over WiFi, and the WiFi antenna will “never” wear out because it’s solid state. Source: I have an old Roku
The wireless charging mechanism, while solid state, generates a lot of heat, which has the potential to degrade the battery especially in certain climates.
Ethernet connectors are probably the best example of this, for servers that might be moved every few years their cheap and maintain a solid connection. It’s really desktops and especially laptops where they become such a major issue.
I know almost nothing about wireless charging. But have fair experience with working with WiFi devices. In my lifetime, I have observed 0 cases of failure on the WiFi client mechanism, and exactly 1 case of a WiFi router failing due to hardware. Meanwhile, power plugs are the most common part I have experienced wearing out on consumer electronics. Have you experienced lots of failures of solid state electronics due to eg. hear cycling and magnetic fields?
When designing wireless charging the same efficiency vs lifespan tradeoffs exist. Sure, they might be fine, but don’t expect them to last 20 years or anything. Further, the mats are significantly more expensive than a cable.
PS: Connector specifications are generally a dumpster fire because nobody wants to be forced to build expensive cables. And even if the spec says X, if Y is cheaper and still mostly works then you can bet people will do Y. Failure tends take a while at which point people buy a new cable vs returning the old one etc.
In agreggate though, the lightning port isn't the first thing that will break, and if it breaks you can use wireless charging. Whereas if you only use wireless charging there is less redundancy and the part that actually wears out the fastest, the battery, will degrade faster due to the heat.
Good inductive charging is an advantage here.
You can't do that with the cable?
I might upgrade to a 12. It’s a nice number; 6,12.... 18?
Next they'll take the screen from the phone and force you to buy an accessory screen!
When I bought a new Ford pick-up truck in the 90's, it didn't come with a rear bumper. That was an add-on. I presume because different people will want different rear bumpers (regular, towing, something else).
When I lived in the desert, I regularly saw brand pick-up trucks without tailgates, or with various specialty ones, so I assume those are also optional.
What was it like living in the desert? Where abouts was it in the world? Sounds an interesting life.
Non-replaceable by you because the AirPods are so small.
But they can be replaced by Apple for $49. Or $0 if they're still covered under AppleCare.
It’s nice that it’s wireless on the new iPhone and all, but it’s still an extra cable (or puck) to carry around.
Much like the headphone cable, I think that things like charging could be done in such a simple way, that the alternatives that are presented just don’t make the users lives easier and generate unnecessary waste.
To do the same you’d then need a large puck by the couch? And a second charger/cable as well? It all seems rather inelegant.
I would have moved to an Android device with a headphone jack and USB-C port, but I prefer to stay away from Google products as much as I can.
Going wireless with everything where it isn't necessarily needed is just a bit overrated in my opinion: - The biggest driver in network speed to me was adding all devices I could to wired connections - there's 20+ different networks in my area and some of the devices use old Wifi standards, so I avoid all of that for devices I don't move around. Homeplug devices with higher speeds than my internet connection were necessary here to make the experience better than wireless (compared to laying new cables wireless is better to me, but I hope devices like TVs keep their LAN port) - In the car: it's just a constant pain to switch the connected device (when more than one person is present), especially when a call comes in, simply using the headphone plug would be much quicker. - When working: switching the devices the headphone is connected to when a call comes in between phone and laptop is equally painful, again, switching plugs would be simpler (though here at least I can walk around with the headphones, so there is a bit of a benefit).
Google hardware without Google software. With USB-C and headphone jack, for now at least.
The one thing that happened when I got that is that I never bought another lighting cable.
So we’re now in a ridiculous situation where you have to carry fewer cables with a MacBook + Samsung setup than a MacBook + iPhone one.
Why cant they make device 1 or 2 mm thicker and have device survive a day longer. Then I just plug it in at the nightstand and dont have to worry about yanking phone as I dont have to top up charge. No need for spare cables at your car/work/relatives.
- Is keeping a magnet near my credit /public transport cards safe? Can't they be damaged by magnets?
- all of those cards are contactless in my country. Will I have to take them out to use apple pay, to avoid approaching a bung of nfc cards ?
I suspect the magnet will make it a sure shot thing with the new iPhone though. With current phones you can often get away with keeping a hotel card in the same pocket as the phone.
A what?
The changes forces most customers to buy either a wireless airpods or a new magSafe charger. This become an easy 'attach' sale for all retailers and virtually any sales person. Customers will be told that their device does not come with a charger and the apple authorized, overpriced charger is the best option to use with their new $700-$1K+ device.
This allows Apple to show stronger revenue numbers, even if demand for the iPhone is weaker.
Your 2 attack scenarios are: device is in evidence lock up, and can b cracked at will (so a security company probably comes up with a kit for cracking and hooking them up, sells the service to LE) - or what happened with T2, where the software stack just gets exploited.
Since you'll still need all those management interfaces that currently are only on the physical port to be somewhere - well I'd put money on removing the port actually making the device more vulnerable. Briefcase of GPUs to crack wifi and rootkit a phone if you can get on the same network.
https://googleprojectzero.blogspot.com/2019/10/ktrw-journey-...
Additionally, it looks like the goal is to let your phone be held vertically, while attached only to the magnet. This makes sense for car mounts, where you may want to mount your GPS via magnet and charge it simultaneously.
Why it’s an inverse square law! Like gravity. 1/r^2.
It appears you can have either MagSafe or the phone holder, but not both. Does Apple have a solution for this?
Using 2 hands to put a cable into a device - is this really too difficult??
Using two hands for things doesn't seem like a difficulty really - playing a guitar, driving a car etc.
It’s not a matter of whether one way is too difficult or not. It’s a matter of whether an alternative has some improvements or not.
Cases then need to have an exposed area for charging, and the surface contacts lower the weather resistance.
Relative to USB-C or Lightning? I think the question was "why do a Lightning port AND fake-wireless instead of just flush surface contact?"
It seems you would pick the phone up and if you didn’t grab and put down the charging disk, it would go clunk and hit the ground.
Sort of like the watch charger will do if it isn’t in a holder. Except louder and more expensive to replace.
This was actually shown in the “snap” video they showed where a phone was pulled away.
I couldn’t understand, are we expected to adhesive this to our bedside stand? Velcro adhesive? Use some other accessory that holds it down?
It just feels incomplete to me.
The cases and wallet thing seem great but I don’t get this charger.
I agree Apple usually figures this out but I think that product was demonstrated, one that folds.
I could see this being the one that hangs over the arm of the couch. But still it needs a little landing pad thing.
A downside to wireless chargers has always been alignment. I always do a double take to make sure my phone is actually charging. Having the magnets guide the phone onto the coils is an improvement, I guess.
I don't remember MagSafe on macbooks ever being truly flush. It was less deep of a port than USB, sure, but it was still a port.
As for why not, there could be many reasons, but I have a feeling it might have something to do with their waterproof/dustproof rating. That's just a pure speculation on my end though.
Or, more likely, it is simply because swapping the lightning port with a magsafe one would make the phone pretty much impossible to use while charging. But with a lightning port + magsafe wireless charging, you get to have both use cases covered (using while charging with lightning, drop off for an overnight charge on your magsafe charging surface).
> swapping the lightning port with a MagSafe one would make the phone pretty much impossible to use while charging
How so? I used my MacBook in bed while charging with MagSafe all the time. The magnets were fairly strong. With a cable going away from the bottom of the device, I think it’d be perfectly usable.
As far as waterproofing, getting rid of the lightning port seems inevitable, because it allows for better hermetic sealing. A flush set of pins seems great for this goal, surely it’s trivial to avoid shorting something out in the prescience of liquid? (I am not an electrical engineer)
Primary goal here is to get a secure, consistently lined up charging mechanism.
Apple has used magnets in chargers before, and lo- a brand was reborn.
It also costs an extra! It's MAGIC! Aren't you excited?
It seems...kinda dumb. Instead of plugging in a lightning cable, I can now stick a hockey puck to the back of my phone?
The “safe” in MagSafe came from its “yankability” without sending your device flying. But if my phone is laying on top of a hockey puck...it’s gonna go flying if I trip on the cable.
Why couldn’t we fill in the lightning port and use flush surface contacts, like the MagSafe of yesteryear?
I’m also not sure why my case needs to magnetize to my device, getting rid of the lip around the screen that made it less cringe to lay my phone face down.
Am I missing something? I really don’t understand this feature.
EDIT: did I see an AirPower reboot in there or am I dreaming?