Patent shows Samsung is already looking into such tech

Mar 26, 2018 09:12 GMT  ·  By

Wireless charging launched on the iPhone in the fall of 2017, but Samsung has been in this business for a long time, so the company is already one step ahead and planning major upgrades to this technology.

One way to push wireless charging a step further could be enabling it to work across the room, which technically means that users would be allowed to recharge their phones without the need for a charging mat or keeping them plugged in.

A patent that Samsung has filed back in 2016 describes how this technology could work to enable over the air wireless charging.

The patent says it could support a maximum distance of up to 1 meter at first and improve in the next updates. OTA wireless charging would employ a transmitter in charge of converting electricity to radio frequencies, while reflectors placed across the room would be responsible for directing them straight to the phone.

Apple looking into similar features too

It certainly sounds like something extremely futuristic, but this is a technology that Apple itself was said to be looking into for the previous-generation iPhones.

Apple patents also detailed OTA wireless charging, and it was believed that the company’s 10th anniversary iPhone could feature such functionality, though it’s likely that the high costs and the complex nature forced Apple to stick with a more conventional approach.

At this point, both Samsung and Apple devices use charging mats for wireless charging, which is a more convenient solution than the traditional cable, but still not as useful as a system that would work across the room.

Of course, since this is still in patent stage, there’s no guarantee that it ever reaches mass-production but given that more and more tech giants are looking into making it happen, there’s a chance investments in this regard will advance more substantially in the coming years.