Table of Contents
Wireless charging has always been an interesting feature for me. Not so much because of the feature itself, which has been around for some time, but because of its mixed treatment.
Something that must seem like a much bigger deal than it is often taken as an afterthought for some of the world’s biggest OEMs. What disappoints me is that wireless charging is still not as ubiquitous as it should be.
Lots of phones and accessories have wireless charging capabilities, but you won’t find many public places that have wireless chargers available. This is the kind of world I envisioned in the early days of wireless charging, and I’m still waiting for that future to happen.
grand plan
My first memories of wireless charging came with the launch Nokia Lumia 920 in 2012. Although Nokia wasn’t the first OEM to put wireless charging for a phone, its inclusion in the device helped popularize this feature, and it started rolling out to more and more smartphones.
Nokia even went so far as to outfit one of its Bluetooth speakers with a charging pad on top, so you can plug in and charge your tunes at the same time, which I thought was the coolest thing at the time.
At that time, there were two main wireless charging standards – PMA and Qi. The latter eventually became the norm in 2018 and is the one you’ll find on many of the best Android phones (and iPhones) today.
According to a report from Strategy AnalyticsThere are up to one billion smartphones that support wireless charging. Wireless Power Consortium, responsible for the Qi charging standard, Notes Wireless charging makes up “nearly a third of global smartphone sales.”
That’s quite a lot, and it’s expected to rise to as much as 2.2 billion by 2026. This has undoubtedly resulted in a lot of wireless charger sales for the home or office, with a market value of over $17 billion in 2021 and set to continue In growth as the technology becomes more popular, particularly among wireless earbuds. However, despite the expected growth, wireless charging in public places is still rare, at least for the time being.
When Nokia introduced me to wireless charging, I always imagined that in the near future, I would be able to walk into any coffee shop, library, or maybe even a cinema, and put my phone in a predetermined charging spot to charge it. Imagine getting a charge while you’re sitting down to watch Thor: Love & Thunder without worrying about bringing a charger or finding a plug if your phone is low on power.
That’s the kind of convenience I’ve always hoped for, and one I haven’t really seen yet as car manufacturers outfit their latest models with wireless charging.
Wireless charging isn’t cheap
While it’s not impossible to find public places with wireless charging, you’ll still be hard pressed to find plenty. However, there are a few reasons why wireless charging seems like it didn’t take off the way I had hoped.
The first is the cost. as such Next Move Strategic Consulting He notes that “the expensive infrastructure required to integrate wireless charging is expected to hamper market growth throughout the forecast period.” This means companies need to justify the cost of outfitting their spaces with wireless charging, whether that means buying all-new integrated furniture, or somehow adding wireless charging to their existing setup.
This was also echoed in my interview with Jitesh Ubrani, IDC’s research director for worldwide mobile trackers, who stressed that companies have to justify implementing the feature for a subset of devices.
“Overall, it’s still cheaper to have a regular outlet that can serve multiple purposes rather than a dedicated wireless charger that only supports smartphones and other small devices,” explains Oberani. “Although wireless chargers have come down in cost over the years, they are still more than a regular outlet and regular furniture (i.e. a table without a wireless charger).”
He also says that there is a general lack of education about the feature, as many consumers don’t know if their phones support the feature. Smartphone owners may risk disappointment when they realize their phones may not support wireless charging, or even when they realize their phones may not charge as quickly as they hoped.
Smartphone OEMs seem to have contributed to this confusion, especially given their mixed treatment of wireless charging. It has pushed some companies, notably Chinese ones, to push the limits in terms of wireless charging speeds.
For example, the OnePlus 10 Pro features 50W wireless charging, which is faster than charging most phones even when plugged into an outlet. Even the Pixel 6 series can charge a little faster than Samsung phones, although you’ll need the Pixel Stand (2nd generation) to achieve higher speeds.
Meanwhile, Apple and Samsung, which dominate the US market, limit wireless charging speeds to 15W at most. Of course, these companies stick to more standard methods, while other OEMs design their own proprietary systems to achieve such incredible speeds.
After the European Union’s decision to make USB-C the standard charging cable for smartphones and other devices, I wondered whether government intervention was necessary to advance wireless charging innovation around a single charging standard (Qi). It can help, Oberani says, but there aren’t enough supported smartphones to justify any action.
“The feature is usually only built into premium products, so the government is only working on a subset of users rather than the mass market. As such, Samsung, Oppo, Xiaomi and others have no reason or need to implement interoperable standards; rather However, having separate criteria works in their favour, as they can use them as a point of differentiation and boost sales of accessories.”
Of course, there is the wireless charging process. Wireless charging can be useful in certain, but not all, situations, and due to the nature of technology – you have to arrange the charging coils correctly – you often can’t comfortably use your phone while charging wirelessly. For many, this can make wireless charging quite inconvenient in a society that can barely turn phones off for an extended period of time.
Where are we going
However, it’s not all bad, and there are plenty of convenient use cases for wireless charging. For example, it is easy to put your phone on a pillow while sleeping or busy with work; This way, you don’t have to worry about searching for wires or fiddling with them.
Reaching wireless chargers in more public places can avoid having to remember to plug in our chargers, find available outlets, or deal with incompatible charging cables (looking at you, iPhone), at least until USB -C is the norm for all smartphones.
Regarding the lack of usability, some companies are working to address this. OEMs including Motorola, Xiaomi, and even OPPO have demonstrated over-the-air remote charging, which won’t require you to physically place your phone on a wireless charging pad.
These devices will use a series of antennas that send beam waves to a device (up to four devices with a Motorola solution) to charge it from a certain distance. It’s not a perfect solution, as there is a limited distance the stations can cover, and it can only charge up to 5W, which is far less than many of our favorite wireless chargers. However, the companies seem dedicated to improving the technology to make it more reliable and hopefully faster.
However, Oberani cautions that it still has a long way to go and will apparently face more challenges than standard wireless charging. “We’re still years away from being safe, seen as safe, as well as affordable, so I don’t think air shipping will be a savings blessing or will play a vital role in adoption.”
The Wireless Power Consortium also reflects Ubrani’s concerns about over-the-air charging FAQ page.
Although interesting in concept, far-field technologies have significant cost, efficiency, and safety issues that have limited commercial applications. Near field wireless charging has proven to be more suitable for consumer electronics.”
Meanwhile, Apple has its own solution that is slowly making its way to Android phones. MagSafe is an interesting form of wireless charging that attaches to the back of your iPhone compatible with a magnet, allowing you to wirelessly charge your phone while you’re using it. There are also MagSafe compatible power banks that make it easy to charge your phone on the go without physically plugging it in.
While it would be great to see this feature on more Android phones, RealMe and OPPO are the only Android device manufacturers to reveal their own solutions, but there’s no doubt that the Samsung MagSafe charger will make waves.
But until then…
Reports suggest that the wireless charging market could reach $185 billion in 2030, which means there is still plenty of time to really take off. And although it has been slow to rise, it is still a useful feature that smartphone owners should take advantage of.
Since there are no 3.5mm headphone jacks on newer smartphones, wireless car charging mounts can come in handy for anyone who prefers to use their own USB-C port to connect it to their car for Android Auto. There is also no harm in having a few sanitary pads around the house, by the bedside table, on the kitchen table, or even on the coffee table.
If you’re looking to splurge, you might even be able to pick up work desks with the built-in wireless charging. But of course, it all depends on costs, not only for businesses but consumers as well.
With so many Android phones that ship without charging adapters in the box, consumers will likely choose to buy a wall adapter over a wireless charger, the latter often costing more although many are covered at lower speeds, between 5W and 15W.
Even if a new wall adapter isn’t necessary, consumers have to decide whether or not it’s worth buying a wireless charger, something Oberani says is more unnecessary than necessary.
“Ultimately, if wireless charging of any kind costs more than regular chargers and increases hardware costs, it won’t be widely adopted because it’s still a nice feature and not a necessity.”