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Report: Apple is working on wireless charging for iPhones, iPads

For those who are always losing their phone chargers, or whose phones run out of power before they can find a charging station, Apple may soon have a solution. Apple is currently developing new wireless charging technology that could be available for its smartphones and tablets next year, Bloomberg reports, citing sources close to the tech giant.

The technology aims to surpass that offered by the likes of Samsung, Sony and Google, which already have smartphones on the market that can charge wirelessly from a charging plate or station. Apple hopes to distinguish itself by enabling its devices to be charged farther away from charging stations, in a wider area of your home or office.

Long-distance wireless charging could help Apple compete in a market that CEO Tim Cook described this week as "bleak" and beset by "extreme conditions," CNET noted. While Apple reported this week that iPhone sales hit a record 74.8 million units in the last three quarters of 2015, that's still below some analysts' expectations.

Freeing customers from having to carrying around ever-entangled USB charging cables might be a great new selling point for iPhones.

Six years ago, Apple filed a patent application that laid out the concept for an iMac computer that could serve as a wireless charging hub for mobile devices, according to Bloomberg. This used a method called near-field magnetic resonance, allowing the device to be charged at a distance of up to about 39 inches.

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