Our Wireless Future
Current developments are suggesting that cables and wires may soon become obsolete.
When we think of our devices, one of the things that goes hand in hand with using them is cables and wires. Whether we’re charging, syncing, connecting or listening to music, there has historically always been a need for wires to connect our various devices to the jacks, plugs and outlets they are associated with.
Unplugged
However, more and more we’re seeing device and hardware manufacturers move away from what is coming an antiquated model of requiring wires and cables to connect devices to external sources of power or other capabilities. Take the cloud for example: instead of having to plug in our external hard drives with a USB plug, we now just trust that our photos, documents and files will sync to our backup device—be it a physical piece of hardware or a cloud-based system like Dropbox—without us having to plug anything in. A few years ago, this would have seemed unfathomable, whereas now it’s entirely commonplace.
The Sweetest Sound
One of the most compelling recent examples of a wireless future is the forthcoming iPhone 7, which is rumored to have left out the headphone jack for the first time in the device’s nearly ten year history. The fact that this rumor is not yet confirmed has not stopped people from expressing responses ranging from outrage to excitement. Some say that this is an unnecessary “innovation” designed only to force iPhone owners to buy new accessories (i.e. Bluetooth-enabled headphones) to go along with their phones. As TechRadar pointed out, “Apple owns one of the most popular headphone companies in the world, and we can be sure that Apple and Beats are already working on a slick new line of Bluetooth buds to release alongside the iPhone 7. That will, in turn, cause other manufacturers to work on slick new Bluetooth headphones of their own, simply to compete.”
Others respond that the iPhone 7 model will still have the capability for the lightning port to be used with headphones, which will either have to be specially designed or be used with an adapter. Either option will require iPhone users to buy new accessories. Better sound quality and a more streamlined device or some enthusiasts is plenty of motivation to spend a few extra dollars.
It’s Electrifying
Charging our various accessories has also begun their wireless transformation. Again, the iPhone 7 is rumored to be furthering this trend with the announcement of wireless charging. There are existing solutions on the market including phone cases and charging bases which don’t require you to plug in a cable, but the step towards entirely wireless charging has yet to be attempted. The manufacturer Mophie has been a leader in the wireless charging space according to Mashable, who wrote in a recent post that “Wireless charging has been around for a long time. The Palm Pre supported wireless charging – but it’s only been in the past year or so that we’ve seen wider adoption. Restaurant chains such as McDonald’s and Starbucks support wireless charging, and more phones (including Samsung’s Galaxy S7/Galaxy S7 Edge) support it too. Mophie told us that although customers have been asking for wireless charging for quite some time, it was important to wait for the larger market forces to be ready. And now they are.”
As is so often the case with technology, trends, devices or standard practices that seem entirely commonplace one year can fall completely out of favor the next. Just think of how MP3 players were replaced quickly by smartphones, or blank CDs, which were quickly replaced by streaming and playlists shared over the cloud. Though it hasn’t quite happened yet, it seems that there’s every likelihood that wires and cables will soon be a thing of the past.