Power up without plugging in—that has been the catchy slogan of Qualcomm’s WiPower and now WiPower has reached a milestone: power up without plugging in even if the mobile device has a metal case. Qualcomm took center-stage on Tuesday with the news. Qualcomm Technologies, a subsidiary of Qualcomm, on Tuesday beat its drum in announcing it was the first to enable wireless charging for mobile devices with metal cases. Until now, charging a device with a metal exterior has been incompatible with wireless charging technologies. The company said that WiPower can operate at a frequency more tolerant of metal objects coming within the charge field.
The company said that “techniques for designing a device to charge through a metal back cover, as well as the full suite of WiPower reference designs,” were now available to WiPower licensees.
What’s ahead was explained by Lance Whitney in CNET: “At this point, Qualcomm has invented the technology, so it’s not yet available on a commercial level where consumers can take advantage of it. The technology itself requires that mobile device manufacturers add the ability to charge a device through a metal cover or exterior. The design methods for doing so are now available to companies that license the WiPower technology. So now it’s up to mobile phone and tablet makers to incorporate the technology into their devices.”
The company is upbeat, saying that, “With the Qualcomm solution, we expect the adoption of wireless charging to accelerate by removing a previous barrier for phone designers.”
