We have all had a time where the battery on our mobile device ran out at the worst possible moment. Since most of us don’t carry our chargers with us or stay near where we can plug our device in for an extended period, we’re forced to walk around with a dead device until we get home. Getting rid of cords and making charging devices wireless would make this inconvenience a thing of the past.
That’s the appeal of wireless charging. Various devices have come out in the past five years, such as Samsung’s wireless charging pad and Powermat, that allow people to charge their phones and tablets by putting them on a flat service. While this method does not require us to plug a wire into our device, it’s still not wireless. In order for the pad charging device to work, it needs to have a wire attached to it. It might not seem like this is bad but the presence of a wire makes charging with these devices not genuine wireless charging.
Coming up with a mechanism that charges devices wirelessly is tricky due to how many devices are out there. Smartphones, tablets, and laptops don’t have the same power source, nor do they communicate the same way with a charging apparatus. In order for wireless charging to work for every device, competing companies would have to work together to make sure the innerworkings of their devices were similar in terms of how power is used and replenished.
Android phones from Google, Samsung, HTC, and Nokia all offer wireless charging in some capacity. Apple seems reluctant to come on board and implement this technology into their iPhones and iPads in the face of their competitors making similar advanced. Time will tell. If history is any indication, Apple will go their own way and put their own spin on wireless charging.
Leaving home with a device that has a nearly dead battery is an inconvenience unfit for the modern era. Our world moves to the speeds our devices allow it to move. Removing the obstacle of a device shutting down due to a dead battery would make so many things operate more efficiently. People who are in positions that require them to be constantly connected to their mobile devices would be able to have a fully charged battery at all times because they would always be close to a charging station.
Whether or not wireless charging will be forged into existence is a matter of if, not when. The world would be better for this innovation because it would eliminate the need for charging cords and then phase out batteries entirely. Our energy usage would drop dramatically and it would do a great deal of good for the environment because less batteries would need to be produced.
