SYDNEY: Samsung Electronics Co with IKEA announced wireless charging plans at this week’s Mobile World Congress (MWC), in collaboration with the Wireless Power Consortium (WPC).
Samsung announced that their new Samsung S6 and S6 Edge models will feature the world’s first universally compatible embedded wireless charging technology in a phone.
According to Samsung’s UK & Ireland electronics president Andy Griffiths, “we are the first brand ever to introduce wireless charging that is built in. It is part of the product. We really get people a great charging experience, a great relationship with the battery of their Smartphone.”
The WPC is an industry body which controls the Qi wireless charging standard, currently powering 80 handsets and 15 cars on the market.
WPC spokesman Ryan Sanderson explained to Reuters how Qi works. “This is basically inducting charging, so it’s a charge that’s passed between two coils,” he said. “There’s a coil in a transmitter. So here’s an example. This would represent a surface, a bit of a table. There’s a coil in here and then there’s a coil in the receiver, so that could be built into a smartphone or a mobile device and when you put the two coils together there’s a handshake between the two using a bit of power management and that essentially allows the device to charge wirelessly.”
Swedish furniture giants IKEA announced at the MWC in Barcelona their new range of wireless charging technology built directly into home furnishings, effectively turning bedside tables, lamps and desks into charging spots. USB outlets will allow additional devices to be charged simultaneously, while charging kits allow wireless charging to be built into existing furniture. Furniture with built-in wireless charging will cost an extra 20 Euros (22 USD), with the wireless charging conversion kits priced at 30 Euros (33 USD). The range goes on sale in Britain and North America in April.
