Apple's 2017 flagship device, the iPhone 8, is to be out in the market in the first quarter of 2017, as rumored. However, before that, there are reports that say Apple supplier Dialog Semiconductor recently concluded a $10 million deal in Energous, a company that's developing long-range wireless charging systems. Its technology could make cable-free device charging a lot more attractive. It's now working with a chipmaker to speed it to market.
Dialog's Partnership With Energous Is Speculated to Benefit Apple
Dialog is a company that makes power management chips and is said to get as much as 75 percent of its business from Apple. The chip producer is also folding Energous corporation under its wing in some significant ways. Energous' partnership with Dialog, however, is significant for several reasons.
First of all, seeing that Apple makes up such a huge portion of Dialog's business, it's extremely likely that Apple will see benefit from the deal. And since wireless charging is one of a multitude of changes rumored to be coming with the 2017 iPhone, perhaps iPhone 8 will be the first of Apple's devices to use this much-anticipated technology.
Energous Corporation Will be Sold To Dialog
According to Fast Company, people have long been supposing that Energous is working with Apple on putting its WattUp RF charging tech inside the iPhone. It stems from the company's statement that it signed a development and licensing agreement in February 2015 with "one of the top consumer electronics companies in the world" to incorporate the WattUp technology into the partner's consumer devices. A revolutionary, flexible technology that enables cordless charging from millimeters to distances up to 15 feet.
Mac Rumors says that according to Energous CEO Steve Rizzone, all Energous technology will be sold under the Dialog brand. "All sales orders will be going through Dialog. It'll take us about 90 days to do all that," Rizzone said.
