Phones consume a miniscule amount of power compared to other things you probably use. Even if it is 20% efficient if is still a drop in the ocean compared to air conditioners, tumble driers, fridges, ovens, kettles, toasters, hair driers, etc.
Small changes are still small when you "multiply them by millions" because all the big things get multiplied too.
>While I'm very much pro environment it is not like we're talking about huge batteries here.
There are 900M iPhone users and expected 1B user by end of 2020. If you Multiple that by 10% - 20% Energy loss from Wireless Charging compare to Wired, that is a lot of wasted energy going forward.
An iPhone holds 7.45 Watt hours, so if you fully charge it every day it's ~2.8kWh / year. 20% power loss is 560 Wh/year. US electricity use is ~13 MWh per capita per year (let alone total energy use).
I know it sounds wasteful, but it's very important to triage ways to conserve energy, otherwise you end up with things like the awful "unplug your phone chargers" campaign.
I use it for my wireless headphones. It yields convenience. For small batteries, wireless isn't much of a waste. There are other ways to be mindful for the environment. Ways which have bigger impact. Not opting for a wireless charging for environmental reasons is in this case more a matter of "feel good". I get free electricity from the sun as well, and I would save more on electricity by getting a new washing machine (current is 7 years old).
Otherwise imagine that waste multiplied by millions.
And if that is the only way to charge then I’d have to carry the base station wherever I go, it’s quite bulky.
And you’d still need a data port so I doubt apple will remove the ability to charge via a cable.