Rumours have long swirled around the iPhone 8 – even before the iPhone 7 was released this year.
Reports have suggested that Apple is planning a major redesign for the new handset, which will mark the tenth anniversary of the iPhone, which might include an entirely glass body and a screen that takes up all of the front of the phone.
And new reports suggest that Apple is currently exploring the possibility of adding wireless charging modules to the next phone, too.
That would mean that it would just need to be set down on a special surface to charge it – in keeping with Apple’s commitment to keep moving towards a wireless future, which it stressed when it dropped the headphone jack from the iPhone.
But the plan could still be derailed because it isn’t clear whether Foxconn, which manufactures the iPhone and is involved in creating the wireless charging modules, will be able to make enough of them. The inclusion of the feature is still dependent upon the yield rates that Foxconn is able to achieve, according to Nikkei which first reported the news.
At the moment, the company doesn’t appear to be able to do so and as a result its appearance on the phone will depend what Foxconn can do about that, the agency reported.
If the feature does arrive in the new phones, it’s thought that it will look to fix some of the longstanding problems with existing wireless charging solutions. Though phone makers including Samsung have released phones including the technology, they tend to need to be placed right next to the charging pad and often charge slowly.
Apple instead is thought to be working on a more long range charging technology that might allow phones to be charged from across the room, or at least without needing to placed right on the surface that’s charging them.
The new iPhone is expected to bring a whole host of major design changes, including a smaller overall form factor and an entirely new design.