Some smartphone makers have been including wireless charging capabilities in their handsets for a few years, allowing you to drop your phone on a charging pad to refuel the battery without connecting any wires. But Apple has been on the sidelines… so far.

Bloomberg reports that Apple is working on adding wireless charging to smartphones… but the company is said to be looking at next-gen technology that will let you charge a phone even if it’s not physically touching a charger.

iphone 6s

Details are pretty thin at this point, but Bloomberg’s sources say that Apple is looking into technology that would support charging from further away than existing wireless charging pads and mats. You might just need to be within a few feet of the charger for your phone to charge.

Bloomberg says the technology could be ready to go as soon as 2017.

Apple isn’t the only company working on long-range wireless charging, and in fact Bloomberg says Apple is working with partners in the US and Asia. But if the company can deliver a working solution by next year, it might be one of the first to offer a commercial system that lets you charge a phone when it’s near a charger as opposed to plugged into or placed on top of one.

Until then, the best way to wireless charge an iPhone is probably to slap the phone in a wireless charging case.

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