Wireless Charging : What is It? How Does it Work? What's it's future?

What is Wireless Charging?

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Let me start out by saying that Wireless Charging is not where you walk into a room and your phone magically starts charging, that's a long way off. What we do have is these little "pads" that can be made out of plastic, metal, or other materials. The "pads" plug into the wall and sit on your desk, bedside table, or anywhere that you charge your phone. Then, if you have a phone that supports it(like most newer Samsung phones) you would just put your phone on the pad and it would begin charging.

How can I use Wireless Charging?

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Apple does not have a device that supports it although, it is rumored that the next iPhone will have this feature. If you are wondering if there is some way to adapt your device to support this feature, there is. For iPhones(notably the 6, 6 Plus, 6S, 6S Plus, 7, 7 Plus) there are many dongles that you can find on Amazon which plug into the Lightning port of the iPhones. For Android, I have seen some Micro USB variants but there is not many since Android is one of the only major phone Operating System's to support this feature.

The Future of Wireless Charging.

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Wireless Charging is cool, but it's not exactly Star Wars and Star Trek come to life. So, what is the future of Wireless Charging, is it a dead concept that's not going to go anywhere? In short, No. Several companies are working on something called "long-range Wireless Charging" which uses a central hub that would be plugged in somewhere which would transmit power via radio waves or even ultrasound. There have even been some demos which showcased this kind of tech except with lasers or magnets.

What can we do to make it more futuristic?

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I think that the best thing we can do to make Wireless Charging more like the future is probably build the charging "pads" into some everyday items like lamps and desks. This is perfect because the most futuristic thing that I can think of right now for Wireless Charging is walking into my room, sitting at my desk, setting my phone down next to my laptop and having it charge. IKEA made a lamp that featured Wireless Charging although it was quite expensive.