Technology surprises us day by day with its everyday innovations. Now, the turn came to air charging technology. It allows you to charge your smartphone within a radius of several meters. Besides, the new technology lets you charge multiple devices simultaneously. Companies like Xiaomi, Motorola, and OPPO have already announced their air charging technologies. So, forget about the cables and enjoy the air charging technology!
Xiaomi Mi Air Charge
Xiaomi introduced Mi Air Charge technology in January 2021. As the company revealed with “remote charging technology” you can charge multiple devices simultaneously. You can also recharge a smartphone “while walking around or even when something’s in the way”. In addition, the company highlights how this technology works. The transmitter is quite big in size and it can provide a 5W charge wirelessly to a smartphone. It means Xiaomi’s remote charging technology can charge multiple devices with a 5W current within a radius of “several meters”.
This type of charging is not related to the Qi standards. The phone itself is fitted with two antenna arrays similar to the ones in the charging device but much smaller in size. The first is the beacon array that communicates with the charging tower. The other is the receiving antenna array that comes with 14 antennas that receive the millimeter waves. These waves are converted to electric power that charges the device through a rectifier circuit, used to charge the device and so, to turn the sci-fi charging experience into reality. Thus, the smartphones need to be outfitted with a “miniaturized antenna array with built-in ‘beacon antenna’ and ‘receiving antenna array’”.
Xiaomi’s plans for future
In addition, the company hinted that the Mi Air Charge will also work with smartwatches, fitness bands, and other wearable devices. The new head of Xiaomi’s mobile division Adam Zeng Xuezhong revealed in his Weibo post is that the plan is to have Mi Air Charge Technology charge wearable devices such as smartwatches and fitness trackers in the future. Moreover, in the near future, they expect the Mi Air Charge to be able to power other small devices in the homes such as speakers and desk lamps. “Soon our living room devices, including speakers, desk lamps, and other small smart home products, will all be built upon a wireless power supply design, completely free of wires, making our living rooms truly wireless”. – Xiaomi says.
Moto Air Charging
Seems like, over-the-air charging will be the new smartphone trend for 2021. Apart from the brands like Xiaomi and OPPO, Motorola also announced to debut with air-to-air charging technology.
Lenovo China’s General Manager Chen Jin revealed about Moto’s air-to-air charging solution on Weibo. Though the executive did not talk much about the details but posted a video that shows Motorola’s new tech in action. The video shows how Motorola’s over-the-air charging tech can charge multiple phones remotely. In addition, according to the video, the upcoming charging technology might be named Motorola One Hyper. This feature works when a phone is up to 1 meter away. On the other hand, it also meets modern security requirements. The manufacturer has shown that if a hand or other obstacle you place between the smartphone, the transmitter, charging stops.
The general manager of Lenovo’s China smartphone business also announced that the solution offers a much greater distance than the current Qi technology. In one of the statements, Motorola stated, “proprietary technology revolutionizes the consumer experience and helps to remove power as an everyday concern. With this solution, we will provide a glimpse of the freedom and flexibility that users can enjoy with a revolutionary over-the-air, wireless power technology. With GuRu, we imagine a new generation of wirelessly powered devices”.
OPPO Air Charging
Both Xiaomi and Motorola showed off experimental technologies that charge phones over a greater distance. They both have different ways of doing it. Xiaomi uses a large box containing the hardware needed for such distance wireless charging. Or Motorola pauses charging when a human body part is detected between charger and phone. OPPO’s version is also different, though both in good and disappointing ways.
Recently, OPPO has teased a new wireless charging feature that works when a phone is up to 10 cm (3.9 inches) away from a charging pad.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kv8DA6Bn-xc
The 30-second clip of how the OPPO Wireless Air Charging Technology works you can see in the company’s Weibo page. A short video clip shows the company’s OPPO X1 2021 rollable concept phone taking advantage of this no-contact wireless charging.
OPPO also says that the technology offers to charge speeds of up to 7.5W. Just like Xiaomi, OPPO tech seems to be true wireless charging as the device continues to charge even after lifting it from the charging mat a few centimeters above. Compared to Xiaomi and Motorola, OPPO’s air charging technology offers a bit shorter distance. Anyway, OPPO adds that it is using magnetic resonance as a solution for ubiquitous problems of wireless charging. Moreover, OPPO requires a significantly bulkier charging station than Xiaomi.