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      Qi2’s wireless charging brings magnets—and slightly faster speeds

      news.movim.eu / ArsTechnica · Wednesday, 15 November - 20:30 · 1 minute

    MagGo 2 from Anker

    Enlarge / Anker's latest MagGo portable charger, already Qi2 equipped, will soon be able to charge iPhones, Androids, and other devices at 15 W. (credit: Anker)

    Qi2 is either a big step forward or a "Wait, that's it?" moment, depending on what kind of wireless charging you're used to using.

    If you've only ever used standard Qi chargers with devices that don't have their own schemes, the Wireless Power Consortium's announcement today of the first Qi 2.0 devices being ready to launch before the holidays, with more than 100 in the queue behind them, is great. Qi2 sports a "Magnetic Power Profile" (MPP), created with help by Apple's MagSafe team, to help align devices and chargers' coils for faster, more efficient charging. Qi2-certified devices set onto Qi2 chargers can achieve 15 W charging, up from 7.5 W in the standard Qi scheme.

    That brings Qi2 devices up to the same speed as iPhones on MagSafe chargers, and it clears up some consumer confusion about how fast a device might charge on Qi, MagSafe, or proprietary chargers. Should a phone and charger be Qi2 certified, you can now expect about 15 W out of it, regardless of whatever Google, Apple, or third party is behind them. Android and iPhone users alike are no longer beholden to their primary hardware vendor if they want 15 W of wireless juice.

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      Easier than a plug: Wireless EV charging gets ready for prime time

      news.movim.eu / ArsTechnica · Thursday, 15 September, 2022 - 15:34 · 1 minute

    A rendering of a public wireless charging station. In fact, WiTricity expects most wireless chargers to be installed in homes.

    Enlarge / A rendering of a public wireless charging station. In fact, WiTricity expects most wireless chargers to be installed in homes. (credit: WiTricity)

    In our recent explainer on electric vehicle charging , you might have noticed that we didn't mention wireless EV charging. Now common on smartphones, wireless charging works the same way on cars, just at higher power levels and with much bigger batteries. But after some demos and news releases during the mid-teens, the technology seemed to fall off the radar.

    Behind the scenes, though, engineers were hashing out an industry standard, aided by industry consolidation along the way. That's now final, and the first EVs with factory-fit wireless charging systems are starting to appear, albeit not here in the US just yet. But given its ease of use, even for drivers who can't imagine life beyond the gas pump, the potential for adoption seems good.

    Ars got its first look at wireless car charging back in 2015. Back then, chip-maker Qualcomm was developing what it called Halo, which it was demonstrating at Formula E races by recharging the battery in a safety car, a BMW i8 plug-in hybrid. It wasn't the only outfit developing wireless charging, however. In Massachusetts, an MIT spinoff called WiTricity started playing around with wireless car charging in 2010 after an investment by Toyota.

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      Dell follows Apple in exploring laptops with reverse wireless charging

      news.movim.eu / ArsTechnica · Monday, 1 August, 2022 - 16:31

    Dell follows Apple in exploring laptops with reverse wireless charging

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    A recently published Dell patent, spotted by Patently Apple , shows the company exploring the ability to wirelessly charge devices on a laptop's surface. We've seen similar concepts from Apple, which has already won patents for similar technologies. However, instead of simply dropping your iPhone on the laptop's surface and letting it charge, Dell's patent application describes a "wireless charging clip" that can attach to the PC and then be used to charge devices placed on top of it.

    The patent (number 20220239124) was filed in early 2021 and was published Thursday. It doesn't guarantee a future product or feature, but it gives us a peek into what the company is considering.

    The wireless charging clip has a surface with a charging coil and a ferrite sheet beneath. The clip would be connected to the PC by magnets.

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