The long-rumoured Apple smart watch could be charged using wireless power, rumours have suggested. The New York Times, citing “a person briefed on the product”, reported that “Apple has been testing a method to charge the battery [of its smart watch device] wirelessly with magnetic induction”.
The method of charging is already used with some mobile phones, which can be placed on a flat ‘power mattress’ surface to recharge without needing to be plugged in.
Additionally, “people close to the efforts” of the creation of the ‘iWatch’ device stated that solar power was being considered as one way of keeping the watch alive during the daytime. Kinetic charging, which would convert the movement of the wearer’s arm into battery power, has also been considered by the company.
Apple was awarded a patent for a flexible-form battery last year, fuelling rumours that it was working on a wearable device such as a smart watch. The hypothetical device could contain both the battery and a similarly flexible solar panel underneath a curved screen, some observers have suggested.
However, the sources who revealed the details of Apple’s research efforts added that “such experiments are years from becoming a reality”.