Wireless charging for phones has been around for a while now, but it hasn't so far made much of an impact. However, improvements in the technology and the participation of companies like IKEA may see it take off at last.
Wireless charging does away with the need to plug a smartphone into a power socket to charge it. Like an electric toothbrush, all you have to do is lay the phone down on the charging station. There's no more fumbling with cables or looking for a power outlet.
"It's a very easy way to charge a device," says Johannes Weicksel of the German IT association Bitkom. There are other advantages too.
"The charger can be integrated into the everyday environment. You can install it, for example, in a worktop," says Christian Schlueter from the German consumer tests organisation Stiftung Warentest.
In fact, Swedish furniture retailing giant IKEA is now selling furniture with wireless charging stations built in many nations.
Wireless charging works by induction: the charger contains a thin coil through which an alternating current flows, creating a magnetic field. The smartphone also has a coil which turns the AC current into direct current that goes into the battery.
Currently there are three technical standards for wireless charging: Qi, Rezence and Powermat.
Both Qi - supported by the Wireless Power Consortium (WPC) - and Powermat - supported the Power Matters Alliance (PMA) - use simple inductive energy transfer.
Rezence uses magnetic resonance, an extension of induction that has a larger charging radius and which makes it possible to charge multiple devices simultaneously. Rezence is supported by the Alliance For Wireless Power (A4WP) which includes companies such as Intel and Samsung. In June 2015 the PMA and the A4WP merged.
Qi is the standard currently most encountered in the smartphone market as it's supported by the WPC which includes major manufacturers such as HTC, LG, Motorola, Nokia, Samsung and Sony. Apple, however, is not a member. Powermat hasn't made much impact to date.
"So far the Powermat standard is only integrated into the Samsung S6," says Hannes Czerulla from German computer magazine c't.
So far the technology hasn't really taken off. Only a few mobiles come out of the factory ready for wireless charging, according to a test report by c't. These include some Nokia models, Samsung's Galaxy S6, the LG G3 and the Google Nexus models 4, 5 und 6.
Google's Nexus 7 is the only tablet that supports inductive charging.
A speed test by Stiftung Warentest found that wireless charging is slower, less efficient and uses more power than cabled charging. The test found that the Samsung S6 could be charged with a fast cable charger in 90 minutes whereas wireless charging took twice as long.
The manufacturers are tackling one of those downsides: The WPC has announced that the Qi standard will soon be able to handle 15 watts compared to the current 5, making charging faster and also making it possible to charge tablet batteries.
Nevertheless, the everyday use of wireless chargers remains low, says Czerulla. The idea that wireless chargers will be integrated into many public places remains in the future. In addition it's impossible to use the phone while wirelessly charging it without interrupting the charging process.
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