Is 2015 the year of wireless charging?
It has been an incredibly exciting start to 2015 with several major announcements in wireless power along with several noticeable absences.
Recently we saw the first major smartphone manufacturer (major by market share) embed wireless charging into their flagship device. Samsung has decided to build in the WPC’s Qi technology into their flagship Galaxy S6 and S6 edge device. Qi wireless charging will be supported out-of-the-box by Samsung for the first time. These new smartphones will also support PMA. This is sometimes called “dual-mode.” As a WPC steering group member this is great news. You may be surprised to hear me say that, but it really is.
What it means is that companies making a significant investment to deploy infrastructure in coffee shops, cars, airports, home furniture and so on, can make those investments with confidence. There is no longer any fear or uncertainty regarding which standard major smartphones will adopt.
These dual-mode phones are and will continue to drive demand for Qi transmitters. It’s not hard to see why. Qi caters to the widest range of applications and offers a clear path forward to resonance whilst guaranteeing full backwards compatibility. Brands like IKEA, AirCharge, McDonalds, Chargespot, Marriott, Toyota to name few are all choosing Qi transmitters. That’s right – Qi-only transmitters. In fact, there are over 682 Qi certified devices today.
The WPC called out a few key stats in its recent press release:
• 15 cars have Qi chargers built in, or available as a factory installed option. Examples include the new 2016 Toyota Camry and the 2015 Jeep Cherokee.
• 80 percent of car manufacturers by volume will release cars with support for Qi.
• Google wireless charging transmitters on Amazon – almost every option you see is Qi and there are so many great options to choose from. Some of my favourites are the Tylt, Aircharge and Nokia ranges.
With the Samsung Galaxy S6 joining the Qi club, today almost every single smartphone manufacturer (except Apple, Levono and Xiaomi) has a flagship device with Qi wireless charging built in. This includes LG, HTC, Google Nexus, Microsoft and Motorola.
Aircharge’s recently launched app is a great way to find Qi charging spots around the world. It shows that there are over 3,000 locations in a wide variety of locations supporting Qi and this is only the beginning. Businesses are paying to install Qi. To put that in context, the PMA has 200 noted locations – all within Starbucks locations. The noticeable absence of the A4WP camp is also interesting. A4WP has no products in the market to date.
PowerByProxi’s evaluation kit.
Why then did PMA select A4WP as its resonance path forward given how similar WPC and PMA technology are? As an engineer and technologist, it’s hard to see how PMA and A4WP technologies can result in a single truly interoperable standard. One can always co-house systems, but that’s not a cost effective solution – nor is it likely to fit in a modern day smartphone.
Additionally, you may find it interesting that most of the press seems to have misinterpreted the merging of two standards organizations as the merging of two standards – which it is not.
When we hosted the Wireless Power Consortium in Auckland, New Zealand, in January, the Resonant Qi Specification was made available to its 200-plus member companies. We were pleased to host the meeting for the second year and contributed a significant amount of our technology, intellectual property and expertise to deliver a highly efficient, backwards-compatible, resonant wireless charging system.
We now we have the world’s first resonant system compatible with the most widely deployed wireless power standard. That’s extremely exciting as it provides companies like Samsung a clear path to Resonant Qi with full backwards compatibility to Inductive Qi.
The advancement includes safety features such as foreign object detection, even with multi-device systems, as well as an industry leading 70 percent plus total system efficiency for a fast and effective charge.
PowerbyProxi’s new evaluation kit is a single design which supports both Resonant Qi and Inductive Qi modes, providing a clear way forward for the growing number of OEMs who are integrating the WPC’s Qi standard into their smartphones and other devices.
2015 is already off to a fast start and is going to be an incredibly exciting year for wireless power; one that we will look back on as a tipping point in the industry.
This article first appeared on EE Times’ Planet Analog website.
Related links and articles:
News articles:
Semtech buys wireless charging startup
Compact and efficient wireless charging
WIreless charging: an alternative approach
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