KGI: all three 2017 iPhones will have wireless charging, and OLED model will need additional graphite sheathing to prevent the overheating of 3D Touch sensor
Apple is widely rumored to launch three new iPhones this year, and KGI Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo now claims that all of them will feature wireless charging.
Context & Ripple Effects
Kuo's report is an early entry in what becomes a recurring annual template: a KGI note each year sketching Apple's full iPhone lineup. The wireless-charging claim here is later echoed and extended by KGI's bilateral wireless charging call for the 2019 models, and the thermal concern raised for the OLED model resurfaces in the L-shaped battery redesign KGI described for the 2018 phones.
The detail that matters beyond the charging headline is the graphite sheathing: it signals that packing wireless charging into the OLED model creates a heat problem for the 3D Touch sensor, making thermal management a design constraint rather than an afterthought.
First-order effects
- If all three 2017 iPhones ship with wireless charging, Apple's accessory ecosystem and the OLED model's internal layout both change at once — the OLED variant needs added graphite sheathing to keep the 3D Touch sensor from overheating.
Second-order effects
- Wireless charging plus thermal shielding eats internal space, which is consistent with KGI's later reports of larger, reshaped batteries — the 2018 L-shaped battery designs and the 2019 battery-size increases for the 5.8-inch and 6.5-inch models.
Third-order effects
- KGI's three-model annual forecast becomes the structural rhythm for iPhone launches, with each year's note stacking new hardware demands — charging, batteries, eventually the 5G modems Kuo flagged for 2020 — onto the same thermal and space budget.
The trend: iPhone engineering is converging on a fixed three-model annual cadence where each added capability — wireless charging, bigger batteries, 5G — forces compensating changes in internal thermal and battery architecture.