What is wireless charging?

As technology progresses, things of science fiction start to become reality. And one of the things that seem truly straight out of a science fiction story is wireless charging. It is a technology that allows devices, such as smartphones and tablets, to be charged without the need for a physical wired connection directly into one of the ports of a device. Instead of plugging in a charging cable, you can simply place the device on a special charging pad or mat.  

This pad or charging may use inductive charging to transfer power to the device wirelessly. When a device is placed on the charging pad, it is within an electromagnetic field. This causes a current to flow through the coils in the pad and a corresponding coil in the device. This current creates an oscillating magnetic field, which in turn generates an alternating current in the device’s coil. Thus, AC current is used to charge the device’s battery.  

There are plenty of devices that support wireless charging such as smartphones, tablets, and wearable devices. There is one term that you always hear in a conversation about wireless charging, i.e, Qi charging. It is pronounced as “chee” and it is a wireless charging standard developed by the Wireless Power Consortium. This is to bring standardisation and safety measures to wireless charging. This will allow for easy adoption by different manufacturers.