Apple’s official charging pad may be a not-too-cheap $79, but if you want to wirelessly charge your smartwatch, Apple’s not leaving you a whole lot of options.
That’s because, despite the wide range of Qi chargers around, Apple has made it so that its watch will only work with a select few which have received the Cupertino stamp of approval.
“The Apple Watch charger that comes with the device is Qi based, but the firm decided not to submit it for interoperability testing,” John Perzow, VP of market development at the Wireless Power Consortium, told The Register. “I think they are using version 1.1.2 of Qi, but the software stack has been altered so that only Apple’s charger works with Watch.”
Apple began selling its $79 charging dock for the Apple Watch this week. It works as both a flat charging puck and in Nightstand mode — giving you the option of either charging your smartwatch in a flat position with the band open, or else on its side.
Other docks that will work with the Apple Watch include those approved as part of the Made for iPhone/iPad/iPod (MFi) licensing program, announced for Apple Watch earlier this year.
There are currently around 150 million pieces of hardware which use the general Qi wireless charging standard, meaning that it should be easy to mix and match your Apple Watch with any of the available charging devices (which includes wireless charging points in cars, hotels, airports etc.)
The fact that Apple has modified its Qi software stack to only work with a small percentage of these is likely to be an irritation to some users — but, then again, isn’t this one of the reasons that Apple is making the kind of cash that it is?
Sounds like a good business strategy to me…
Luke Dormehl is a U.K.-based journalist and author, with a background working in documentary film for Channel 4 and the BBC. He is the author of The Apple Revolution and The Formula: How Algorithms Solve All Our Problems … and Create More, both published by Penguin/Random House. His tech writing has also appeared in Wired, Fast Company, Techmeme and other publications.
7 responses to “Apple forces you to buy only approved Apple Watch wireless chargers”
profit ::cough:: quality control
Well, certainly, profit has something to do with it, but its also protecting itself from lawsuits, runaway tech support, and other problems that would arise if Apple let Apple Watch users use cheap Chinese crap to charge their watch. Its certain that many users would fry their watch and call Apple to complain.
Yes, there were many examples of third party chargers doing all sorts of terrible things to iPhones and iPads. Also, I like how the headline uses the word “forces”. As far as I know, the only thing we’re “forced” to buy in America is health insurance.
And pay taxes. Register your car. Have car insurance. Get it inspected. All with fees of course. Renew your license.
All but taxes you are not forced, because you’re not forced to buy a car. Totally different.
Sounds like a good business strategy to me…
Indeed. Control and profit.
Sounds like a pending lawsuit due to infraction of licensing terms. When you license a standard you do not get
the freedom to mess with the specs and compliance….