As an innovative company, Apple has brought us many revolutionary changes in mobile phone function innovation. For example, capacitive touch screen, built-in WiFi module, etc. Nowadays, fast charging technology is an innovation recognized by almost everyone, and has spread to the thousand-yuan phone market. However, to this day, Apple still has not released an iPhone with fast charging technology. What is the reason that keeps Apple indifferent to this technology?
There are roughly two types of fast charging in the Android camp
First of all, the fast charging solutions currently on the market are divided into high-voltage low-current fast charging and low-voltage high-current fast charging. Among the Android camp , fast charging standards in the high-voltage and low-current field include Qualcomm QC, MediaTek PEP, Huawei FCP, etc., and many others are based on these technologies. I will not elaborate here. As for low-voltage and high-current fast charging, there are OPPO's VOOC and USB-IF's PD. There are also fast charging technologies based on VOOC and PD on the market, so they are skipped.
Since the iPhone 5, Apple has changed the previous 30Pin Dock interface to the 8Pin lightning interface standard, which not only solved the problem of the previous 30Pin Dock interface being easy to plug in backwards, but also greatly reduced the size. It is reported that, It is 80% smaller than the original 30Pin interface, which is very important for the precious space inside the mobile phone. In addition, the durability of the lightning interface is much better than that of the 30Pin Dock interface.
First, we start from the characteristics of the lightning interface. From the picture above, PWR: power supply; GND: ground wire; ID0/ID1: used to identify the front and back sides or accessory categories and other ID identification strobe signals; L0p/L0n/L1p/L1n: signal lines for data transmission .
In fact, only 2 of the pins are used for data transmission, and the other 2 should be redundant designs and can be regarded as spare pins. Different accessory devices are identified through the combination of ID0 and ID1 pins to select different data transmission lines.
The lightning interface that is unwilling to be abandoned: the entrance to huge benefits
Compared with fast charging using Type-C interface on the market, the size of the lightning interface is also much smaller. Apple, which has always been pursuing thinness and lightness, would rather sacrifice fast charging technology than adopt a large Type-C interface. In addition, the performance limit of the Lightning interface is not weak, and its data transfer rate exceeds that of USB Type-C and other interfaces. Apple's Lightning interface only supports IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers) standards, making it more profitable to develop it yourself.
Previously, it was reported that Apple hopes to use the Lightning interface standard for ten years. Because the Lightning interface is Apple’s own standard, Apple does not need to pay high patent fees for its own use. In addition, Apple can also license it to More accessory manufacturers thus make a lot of profits. After years of technology accumulation and application promotion, the Lightning interface has developed a large number of feature-rich application ecosystems, which also hide huge benefits. Apple will naturally not give up the Lightning interface lightly.
Doesn’t support fast charging or is it due to cost considerations?
With the Android camp frequently using batteries with a capacity of 4,000 to 5,000 mAh, the addition of fast charging can ensure a relatively normal charging speed for large batteries. In order to maintain a thin and light body, Apple does not hesitate to use small-capacity batteries. For example, the battery capacity used by the latest iPhone 7 is still less than 2,000 mAh. No matter how well the iOS is optimized, the battery life of the phone becomes a big problem after using it for a period of time.
In fact, Apple’s standard charging head specification on the iPad is 5V/2.1A, which also uses a lightning interface. This also shows that the lightning interface can support 10W fast charging. After testing, it is used The iPad charger charges the iPhone, and the speed increase is very obvious.
But everyone knows that the higher the output power of the charger, the more expensive it is. That’s why iPad chargers are so much more expensive than iPhone chargers. Maybe Apple is trying to save money by not giving them iPhone comes standard with a fast-charging charging head. For safety reasons, it is recommended that you use an iPhone charging head to charge your iPhone.
Summary:
There are rumors that this year’s iPhone 8 will add fast charging technology and wireless charging technology. Of course, this rumor has been around since the iPhone 6s, so we have no idea how Apple will decide, but we believe Apple will make a decision based on the market environment and demand. As far as the current environment is concerned, fast charging technology has obviously become very important. I believe Apple fans are eagerly hoping that Apple can add fast charging technology.