Image credit: Powermat
Apple was more than a little late to the wireless charging party, but that doesn't mean you should disregard its massive influence.
Today Powermat, which is the only true rival to the prevailing Qi wireless charging format, conceded that Qi had essentially won the war thanks to Apple's adoption of the format for the iPhone X, the iPhone 8 and the iPhone 8 Plus.
Powermat also officially joined the Wireless Power Consortium (WPC), which is the group that's primarily responsible for promoting Qi.
"Qi has become the dominant wireless charging standard on the market and the recently launched Apple iPhone lineup is evidence of this success," Powermat CEO Elad Dubzinski said in a prepared statement. "Powermat will share technology innovation to further unlock wireless charging potential, and will expedite the growth of the wireless charging infrastructure."
That's good news for customers, as it means there will now be far less of a chance that your devices won't be compatible with a certain wireless charging pad. Frankly, it's already been this way for a while, and Apple's adoption of Qi was just the final blow.
Easy charging
Powermat's decision also simplifies matters for manufacturers. Prior to Apple's entry into the market, smartphone makers had largely tried to cover all their bases by supporting both Powermat and Qi standards.
Apple, however, chose only to work with Qi. As a result, smartphone makers such as Samsung will only have to worry about one wireless charging format going forward (or at least until new technology rolls out).
Powermat may not have achieved the victory it wished for, but thanks to some smart planning, it's still up and running.
Unlike that of Qi, Powermat's system relied on a public network of around 12,000 chargers in the US and Europe, and it simply updated all of them to support Qi when Apple's latest iPhones came out.
It may be bruised, but it's not truly beaten.
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