If someone told you 20 years ago that it would be possible to charge batteries in your devices, you would either think that he was out of his mind or you would not care at all, because it would look so distant from the time you were living in.
Well, it already exists, but during the next year, the wireless charging is going to be greatly improved and become at least three times better than it is now.
If this happens, it could absolutely replace the charging as we know it – via annoying wires.
How It Works
For those of you who do not know how exactly wireless chargers work, here is a brief and simplified explanation. The coils of wire inside the charger itself create a magnetic field in the space around it through which the electric current passes.
Naturally, it needs something to create a closed circuit and that thing is the battery of your device. The most interesting fact about all this is that the charger does not need an actual physical contact with your battery.
You only need to place it anywhere in the magnetic field, relatively near the charger. This principle is called electromagnetic induction.
Here’s video explaining this technology:
Pros And Cons
The biggest problem of wireless charging is that it runs at a rate of 5W, which means it takes too long to fully charge a standard battery.
So, basically today’s wireless chargers can be used for gadgets with smaller batteries, such as smartphones, but using them for charging tablets would be a nightmare.
Besides lower efficiency and working slowly, there are some other disadvantages that are not that important, but they are still annoying, such as the fact that you cannot move your device around, since it needs to be placed on a pad.
Of course, this can be done quickly and provides lots of comfort, but still it has to remain rooted to the spot. The price is one of the things neither producers nor customers like – they are much more expensive to manufacture than the common wired chargers.
Freescale Is Bringing Revolution To Wireless Charging
Freescale, a renowned company that produces chips, has the potential to change all of this. Namely, they decided to deal with these downsides of wireless charging and make it a lot better.
They promised to upgrade the charge rates up to 15 Watts, which is much better than it is now and if it really happens, you could charge a phone almost as fast as with the existing wired chargers.
This would be a huge step closer to them and probably the last one before the wireless chargers totally blow them away.
Conclusion
2015 is definitely going to be the most significant year for wireless charging so far and we are looking forward to seeing how far it will go.
It certainly looks magical to just put a device on the table and it instantly starts recharging, but it simply has to be the next that the new technology is going to bring, since we already have wireless earbuds, speakers, phones, headphones, microphones, keyboards and many other devices.
Cables are slowly, but surely, disappearing. No more tangling, thank god.
featured image credit: phonearena.com