
Visitors use their mobile phones’ cameras during the 2015 Mobile
World Congress (MWC) in Barcelona on March 5, 2015. Tech companies
showcased countless connected gadgets at the world’s biggest wireless
telecom fair, the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, which wrapped up
today. AFP PHOTO
By AFP
“Got a phone charger you can lend me? No, I need the new type… Oh, forget it.”
To ease the stress of a dying mobile phone battery and the hassle of
bundling wires into your bag, designers are hoping to make 2015 the year
of the wireless charger.
Companies at the Mobile World Congress, a top telecom fair which
wrapped up on Thursday in Barcelona, Spain, promised that soon you will
just place your phone on a table or lamp stand for it to absorb
electricity through a wireless surface.
South Korean giant Samsung included wireless charging capability in
its new flagship smartphone, the Galaxy S6, unveiled on March 1 in
Barcelona.
Swedish furniture-maker Ikea meanwhile announced a line of bedside
tables, lamps and desks equipped with wireless charging spots to be
launched in Europe and North America in the coming weeks.
“This is probably the year of the wireless charger,” said Kevin
Curran, a senior member of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics
Engineers, ahead of the mobile fair. “A lot of the top-end phones now by
default are coming with a wireless charger. You just have to put the
phone onto a mat or onto a stand.”
If a phone has a wireless charging receptor, just placing it over the
charging pad on one of these items will transfer power to it. The piece
of furniture itself is not wireless, drawing its power from the mains,
but no wire is needed to plug into the phone.
STANDARD ADAPTERS
Different rival technologies for wireless charging have emerged over
recent years. For their devices, Samsung and Ikea opted for the Qi
standard — a system developed by the Wireless Power Consortium, an
alliance of some 200 different companies founded in 2008.
The Qi consortium claims its standard is the most widely used in the
world with charging points in 3,000 hotels, restaurants, airports and
public spaces. It says its system can be used in 80 models of mobile
phone and various types of car.
The product announcements at the Barcelona show “will allow a big
step forward,” eventually freeing users of cumbersome charging wires,
said Inge Tauber of the German company L&P Automotive, part of the
Qi project.
“People have no need to fear that their chargers will become
obsolete, because these bases will be compatible with the new
generations of smartphone.”
Even smartphones that were not made with a wireless charging receptor
can be fitted with adaptors in the form of an outer case or other minor
accessory costing from about €10 (US$11).
WIRELESS CHARGING RACE
Qi is competing with two other standards, PMA and A4WP, which between
them group some 200 other telecom, computing and electronics firms. The
PMA and A4WP camps will merge in mid-2015 “to accelerate the growth of
this nascent market,” they said in a statement.
Tauber denied this competition would hold back the industry from
developing a common standard for compatible charging pads. She reckoned
it would drive it towards a “homogenous standard”.
Makers of smartphones have so far failed to find a common standard
for any kind of charger, despite attempts such as the European Union’s
bid to impose universal chargers by 2016.
Analysts said it was tricky to estimate the potential value of the market for wireless chargers.
The Wireless Power Consortium estimates that 50 million chargers were
sold in 2014. According to technology consultancy Gartner, in that year
consumers bought 1.8 billion handsets — which typically come with a
charger included.
“In the next few years they will all have wireless chargers in-built,” Curran said