Rumor Has It Cheap iPhone 6 Will Feature Wireless Charging

The rumor mill goes on and on about Apple’s upcoming iPhones, particularly those regarding the cheap version, meant to boost sales in Asia, where despite all of Apple’s intensive marketing, cheaper competition is by far the market leader. Rumor has it, that the cheap iPhone 6 will have features particularly meant for the Japanese market.

In the US, wireless charging is something that most of us only dare to dream off, although just recently this year Duracell Powermat introduced the first wireless charging solution for iPhone 5 (you can read a full review of the iPhone 5 battery case and charging mat here). With that product release, most of us found for the first time that wireless charging has been around for quite some time now. In fact, there are over 8.5 million devices compatible with or for wireless charging sold worldwide. 

Asia is where QI (the standard for wireless charging technologies for mobile devices) is all the rage. So releasing an iPhone that is meant to revolutionize those markets without wireless charging isn’t exactly the right business strategy. In fact, to withstand the aggressive competition in that region, Apple needs good-quality, very affordable price and appealing technologies.

There’s been a lot said about iPhone 6, but it seems wireless charging is an essential feature, whether it’s going to be an in-built feature or an added functionality via an external accessory. “Apple is likely to adopt the wireless charging technology developed internally, but it remains unknown if the next-generation iPhone will come with built-in wireless charging capability or with other attached accessories” reads a report by DigiTimes.

As for the US market, prepare to get rid of charging cables and accessories, because as of 2014 we are definitely going to see a lot more wireless charging solutions. AT&T has announced earlier this year that it had requested all of its device suppliers to provide integrated wireless charging solutions by 2014. And it’s only getting better. Already there are more than 100 major device vendors that have joined the Wireless Power Consortium and the first mobile products with built-in wireless charging have already been announced for release in the US. The first to be rolled out is a Windows Phone 8 smartphone, the Nokia Lumia 920 that is actually the first US smartphone with built-in wireless charging.