14 DAY TRIAL // One of the biggest drawbacks of the Surface Pen is the lack of a built-in battery, as users are forced to stick with a traditional AAAA battery that needs to be replaced every once in a while.
I, for one, ran out of battery for the Surface Pen while working for home during the current health crisis that we’re all dealing with, and getting a new AAAA battery fast was harder than I expected.
Microsoft knows this is a major inconvenient, so the company wants to develop wireless charging for the Surface Pen, technically allowing users to recharge the accessory when it’s magnetically attached to their Surface.
Still in patent stage
A patent spotted by WU recently shows that Microsoft is still working on wireless charging for the Surface Pen, albeit for now, it’s still not clear when this is projected to land.
“Inductive charging with wireless charging coils is a desirable method for charging peripheral devices. However, computer devices such as tablets are getting smaller and thinner. When accessories need to be charged from the main unit, integrating traditional wireless charging coils into the design of a smaller, thinner computing device can be difficult,” Microsoft explains in the patent.
So the bigger challenge for Microsoft right now before making the whole thing happen is integrating all the necessary components in the Surface Pen and the Surface device that’s being used to charge it wirelessly. This would obviously require new-generation devices, and unfortunately, it won’t work on the existing Surface PCs.
As for when this version of the Surface Pen could go live, nothing is certain at this point since it’s all just a patent. But given Microsoft has already announced new Surface models this month, don’t expect an upgraded Surface Pen to see daylight sooner than 2021.