Advancements bring new promise for
smartphone charging
Wireless charging products, including
charging mats designed for smartphones, have been available for years. The
wireless charging industry now appears primed to take off in new, interesting
directions, however. July 2012 projections from Pike Research (www.pikeresearch.com), for example,
predict revenues from wireless power systems (mobile devices, consumer
electronics, electric vehicles, etc.) will mushroom from $4.9 billion in 2012
to $15.1 billion in 2020. If true, efforts currently in the works will likely
play a significant role.
Wireless
charging products, including charging mats designed for smartphones, have been
available for years
One such effort is Qi (which is pronounced
“chee”), an open standard championed by the Wireless Power Consortium (www.wirelesspowerconsortium.com),
an association of 127 companies with industry ties to mobile phone, consumer
electronics, infrastructure, semiconductor, component, battery, and wireless
power technologies. Notably, Qi removes a sizable obstacle that has slowed user
adoption of wireless charging solutions to date: compatibility among devices.
The Qi way
Established in 2008, the WPC published a
low-power specification for Qi in 2009 for delivery of up to 5 watts power. The
WPC extended the specification in 2011 to medium power for delivery of up to
120 watts. In 2009, the WPC certified the first Qi-based product, and today,
there are 110 consumer products carrying the Qi logo, translating to 8.5
million-plus units globally, including 6 million in the United States and 2
million in Japan. More than 120 companies support Qi, which is found in
products such as smartphones, charging pads, gaming controllers, Blu-ray Disc
recorders, docks, automobile phone chargers, alarm clocks, and charging modules
integrated into tabletops and furniture.
In short, Qi uses magnetic induction
technology to enable charging devices without cords. Place a device using
integrated Qi technology or a Qi accessory (such as an adapter) on a Qi-enabled
charging surface and charging occurs. Qi stands apart from proprietary
solutions in that any Qi device works with any Qi charger or surface. Thus, a
smartphone from one manufacturer works with a charger from another, meaning a
user could charge her Qi-enabled smartphone in, say, a café or airport where a
Qi charger is available.
In
short, Qi uses magnetic induction technology to enable charging devices without
cords
Menno Treffers, WPC chairman, says Qi isn’t
“a proprietary system supported by one or two companies only. It’s broadly
supported in the industry, and that’s really necessary to make this into
something that will become broadly available.” With Qi, he says, “you just put
the phone on the desk. When it rings, you pick it up. When you want to make a
call, you pick it up, and all the time when it’s on the desk it charges.”
Currently, a typical office-based Qi
scenario might involve setting a Qi-enabled smartphone on a charging “plate” on
a desktop, but someday that charger could be built into the desktop. “You just
put the phone on the desk, which I do anyway, make calls and receive calls, and
don’t bother with connecting and disconnecting the phone,” Treffers says. The
result is no longer worrying (at least as much) about battery life and the
phone being constantly ready. Further, Qi can charge devices as quickly as a
wired charger, Treffers says, as Qi’s delivery of 5 watts is “significantly
more than what you get from a standard USB desktop PC port.”
Spreading Qi
Qi, which translates to “vital energy” from
Chinese, is that it’s a standard, something Treffers says enables driving down
costs and getting suppliers and infrastructure players interested. “You can see
that already now with Qi. I see so many companies investing in it.” A recent
example is Nokia’s Lumia 920, a Windows Phone 8 smartphone with integrated Qi
technology. The new Lumia 820 also supports Qi, albeit via a removable shell
accessory.
We
see so many companies investing in Qi
Additionally, Nokia is partnering with
national café chain Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf to implement wireless charging
plates at various locations. Treffers characterizes Nokia’s announcements as “a
tipping point” for Qi. Japan, however, is “past tipping point.” Elsewhere, the
Kitchen 67 restaurant in Grand Rapids, Mich., recently announced it will enable
customers to charge Qi devices via wireless charging technology integrated into
tabletops. Reportedly, 120-plus locations in Japan already offer Qi wireless power
charging stations in tables.
“There are no inherent roadblocks the
standard has to overcome,” Treffers says. “The spec is available. We have the
certification available. The ICs [integrated circuits] are available. It’s now
just a matter of getting the products into the consumers’ hands. The driving
factor is the adoption of mobile phones as an integrated feature, not as a
backdoor option or sleeve, but integrated into the phone.” Treffers says Qi
adoption is occurring faster than expected. “Compared to a standard like
Bluetooth, I think we’re doing slightly better than what’s been done
historically,” he says. Achieving mainstream acceptance is now a matter of
phone manufacturers explaining Qi to users. “Consumers aren’t interested in the
standard as such. They want to see it implemented in the product.”
The WPC is now working to extend Qi to
deliver 10 to 15 watts. “For tablets, you need more than 5 watts to have a
reasonable charging experience,” Treffers says. “The extension we’re working on
now will provide 10 to 15 watts into the receiver, and that’s something that
becomes interesting for tablets.”
Also of note
IDT’s
resonance wireless charging technology “simplifies the way the PC charges the
phone wirelessly
In addition to Qi there are other wireless
charging efforts in the works. One attracting attention is Intel’s (www.intel.com) Wireless Charging Technology,
first demoed in 2008. In late August, Intel and Integrated Device Technology (www.idt.com) announced IDT will create chipsets
supporting the technology. An Intel blog stated IDT’s involvement “leads to a
solution that isn’t limited to inductive charging and ‘smartphone on a charging
mat’ usage.” Further, IDT’s resonance wireless charging technology “simplifies
the way the PC charges the phone wirelessly.”
Intel says it is working with peripheral
makers, OEMs, and others to “deliver a cost-effective and simpler path to
wireless charging.” Usage-wise, Intel suggests imagining a wireless charging
solution integrated into an Ultrabook. Upon starting WCT detection software, a
user set a smartphone roughly an inch from the Ultrabook, after which “coupling
takes place between the two devices and energy begins to seamlessly and
wirelessly flow from the Ultrabook to the smartphone.” Within an hour the
smartphone would be sufficiently recharged to make it through the afternoon,
according to Intel. IDT plans to deliver a full chipset solution for reference
design by early 2013. Intel, however, isn’t setting a timeframe for
availability of WCT-enabled consumer products.
