In response to Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman, Apple thought-about making the iPhone 17 Air its first port-less system. Such stories are nothing new, we’ve been listening to a few wireless-only iPhone since not less than 2019. Apple reportedly determined to maintain the USB-C port for now, allegedly as a result of it feared a port-less cellphone could be towards EU rules.
That isn’t the case, nevertheless. European Fee press officer Federica Miccoli confirmed to 9to5Mac {that a} system that helps solely wi-fi charging is completely inside the guidelines:
Sure. Since, such radio gear can’t be recharged through wired charging, it doesn’t want to include the harmonised (wired) charging answer.
In different phrases, USB-C is barely necessary on moveable battery-powered gadgets that assist wired charging – the purpose was to kill off varied incompatible wired charging requirements. If wi-fi is the one solution to cost a tool, then no USB-C is required.
Apple iPhone 17 Air (speculative renders)
In reality, a part of that very same legislation that enshrined USB-C because the be-all and end-all wired charging port mandates that the EU ought to do the identical with a wi-fi charging normal.
The Fee will promote the harmonisation of wi-fi charging so as to keep away from future fragmentation of the interior market and any adverse results on shopper and the atmosphere. The Fee will monitor the evolution of all varieties of wi-fi charging applied sciences (not solely inductive), notably market developments, market penetration, market fragmentation, technological efficiency, interoperability, vitality effectivity and charging efficiency.
Fortunately, that’s basically accomplished at this level – the unique Qi is the bottom frequent denominator and Qi2 is a backwards-compatible improve. In fact, Qi2 is mainly Apple’s MagSafe, the Wi-fi Energy Consortium simply made magnets non-obligatory.
Anyway, the iPhone 17 Air can have a USB-C port on the underside. However all bets are off for the 18 Air.
