With three wireless charging standards competing for supremacy, wireless charging is still waiting for the defining moment that will help it go mainstream. Could the introduction of wireless charging on the Apple Watch finally be the moment the wireless charging industry is waiting for? Not quite, critics say.
Apple chief executive Tim Cook threw in a comment about the Apple Watch's wireless charging capabilities during the company's September 9 event, albeit "as an afterthought", says Jessica Lipsky, associate editor of the EE Times.
Lipsky, who has written on the need for a company with major clout to introduce wireless charging to the masses and has expected Apple to finally bring magnetic resonance charging to the mainstream, says she was "sorely disappointed" because the inductive charging mechanism used for the Apple Watch "isn't wireless at all," since the charging plate is still connected to a cord that needs to be plugged into a wall socket.
"Though the watch has no exposed contacts or visible alignment, Apple's Magsafe technology (the same thing that snaps a charger on to your Macbook) connects the coils inside the watch just so," Lipsky explains. "That magnet is connected to a wire but doesn't require the purchase of an additional mat or charging device."
Lipsky also laments the fact that Apple chose induction charging, which requires the Apple Watch to be placed in close contact with the charging plate, as opposed to the faster magnetic resonance technology. Magnetic resonance, the standard used by the industry group A4WP, allows devices to charge quickly at greater distances from the charging plate.
Induction charging, on the other hand, is what is used by the Qi standard, which is championed by the Wireless Power Consortium (WPC), whose members include industry bigwigs Nokia and Philips, and the Power Matters Alliance (PMA). Google's Nexus 5 smartphone uses Qi to charge wirelessly by being placed on an inductive charging pad, which requires the device to lie flat on the charger for it to charge and places limits on how the user can move the device while it is charging.
Still, wireless charging companies choose to see things in a positive way, saying that Apple's introduction of inductive charging will open up new doors for wireless charging.
"Today's move by Apple promises to catapult inductive wireless charging into the mainstream, greatly accelerating its adoption by consumers, device makers and venues worldwide," says Daniel Schreiber, president of Powermat, a company that produces wireless chargers for clients such as Duracell, Starbucks and AT&T.
