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Apple will be able to update iPhones while they're still in the box, report claims
(me.mashable.com)
this post was submitted on 17 Oct 2023
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Technology
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Wouldn’t this require the phones in the box to be charged above some percentage? Also if they can turn it on wirelessly I can only assume it’s using BLE and I hope the feature is off once the user sets the phone up.
Aren’t they already? When I got mine it was charged to 100% already.
Maybe an extension of wireless charging? Do iphones not have that yet?
The current box arrangement and phone orientation in the box would seriously inhibit wireless charging.
My iPhone 15 came in the box back up, against the outside of the box. I think you could probably line up a wireless charger with a bit of work to get it to charge.
Oh, then it’s definitely possible
With magsafe not even bit of work
I don't think that wireless charging is fast enough to counter a phone updating yet, tbh... And constant charging would deteriorate the battery.
What makes you think they care about deterioration of the battery? More future sales if they run some charge cycles before you even unbox it.
Why couldn’t the update start automatically once the wireless phone is sufficiently charged? That would not be hard at all to implement. Simply indicate the update is complete by making the phone beep until it’s removed from the wireless charger. Easy peasy.
I think the more challenging problem is designing a box that positions the phone in a way that it’s easy to charge wirelessly while still providing sufficent protection like packaging is supposed to do. Inductive charging has to be close to work well.
That would maybe solve it if you have 5 phones in your store, but I really don't want to be the person that has to "go charge and update the iphones in storage again" if they store hundreds of phones and each needs to be placed on a charging station for an unknown amount of time "until it beeps" one by one... 😅
The stationproblem you mention however is easily fixed by making it diagonally with a fitting edge the box perfectly fits in, so you can just slide in the box and gravity + edge puts it in the right spot. Add a big sticker for employees that states which direction and done. 😅
You can’t wirelessly charge on a narrow edge, so storing the phone in the packaging at an angle will not work for wireless charging. You need a flat side of the phone to be parallel and flush to the side of the packaging, otherwise the wireless coil will not work.
If they design the process efficiently it shouldn't burn too much battery to update the system image. The phone just needs to power up, connect to store wifi, apply the image and shut down. Doesn't even need to power up the screen.
Also my first thought. But then I realized that since they support wireless charging pads, it is possible that they can also be charged while in the box.
No one wants a new iPhone that comes out of the box at 10% charge. But maybe they can avoid this.
Yes but then you're relying on the employees in the Apple store to actually keep the phones on the charging pads so unless there's one charging pad per phone, they're going to have to rotate them.
I've worked with Apple store employees and let me tell you the name "genius" has never been less appropriate.
Good questions.. Sounds ... problematic at best.
I'm assuming they just do it to the latest when you buy them, cause if you do it too many times it will eventually have died in the box. 😅 If so, you wait the same amount of time in the store but without the satisfaction of seeing it update, and if they do them regularly it'll have the possibility to be 0% battery and not be able to update in the box anymore (which would also be bad for the battery)... 😅