Apple’s iPhone 8 and Both iPhone 7s Models Will Allegedly Feature Wireless Charging

We’ve seen plenty of reports in recent months suggesting that Apple’s high-end iPhone 8 will feature some form of advanced wireless charging technology. And while many of those reports have claimed that the feature will be exclusive to Cupertino’s OLED-equipped device, famed KGI Securities analyst, Ming Chi Kuo, in his most recent research note to investors, suggested that it may very well be coming to all three iPhone models that are expected to be released this fall.

Alongside the company’s ‘crown jewel’, which is rumored to boast a so-called ‘glass sandwich’ form factor, Apple is also expected to release incremental, ’s’-model updates to its wildly-successful iPhone 7 line — including an ‘iPhone 7s’ and ‘iPhone 7s Plus’, which should retain many of the design characteristics of the current iPhone 7 flagships, albeit featuring upgraded internals across the board.

However Kuo, in his note to investors, alleged that wireless charging technology is known to foster an increase in the internal temperature of smartphones. And so, as a preventive measure to ensure the device does not overheat, Apple will supposedly employ what he refers to as an “additional graphite sheet lamination,” which would ultimately prevent a potentially pyrogenic disaster from materializing in your pocket.

“While we don’t expect general users to notice any difference, lamination of an additional graphite sheet is needed for better thermal control and, thus, steady operation,” Kuo said in his research note, a copy of which was obtained earlier this week by MacRumors. “This is because FPCB [Flexible Printed Circuit Board] is replaced with film, which is more sensitive to temperature change of the 3D touch sensor in OLED iPhone.”

 What remains unclear, of course, if whether or not all three iPhone models will be constructed in this so-called ‘glass sandwich’ design, which was first introduced in Apple’s iPhone 4 handset back in 2010, and is resemblant of a device featuring both front and back glass panels, housing the internal components and supported by a metal frame. However, current word on the street is that “the frame” of Apple’s iPhone 8 will be of the considerably stronger, stainless steel variety, as opposed to the current, 7000 series aluminum alloy. 

Kuo added that the new 3D Touch panels will likely add about $5 to the overall cost of manufacturing each iPhone for Apple. And while that paltry sum, in itself, is hardly reason to be concerned, the move may end up costing Cupertino as much as $5 million — especially if it ends up selling as many of the top-shelf, OLED-equipped iPhones as supply chain analysts have been speculating that it will.

What remains unclear is what form of wireless charging will be employed in the upcoming devices — as well as whether or not all three, in fact, will be of the ‘glass sandwich’ variety. Apple’s vast and complicated, Far East supply chain is already in place and ready to go creating 7000 series aluminum moldings; and so it seems a bit more probable that only the $1,000+, 5.8-inch ‘iPhone 8’ — or ‘iPhone X’, as some have been calling it — will feature the new design, while the ‘iPhone 7s’ line retains the structural composition of iPhone 7.

Have you been eagerly waiting for an iPhone that can charge wirelessly? Let us know in the comments!

[The information provided in this article has NOT been confirmed by Apple and may be speculation. Provided details may not be factual. Take all rumors, tech or otherwise, with a grain of salt.]