Long-range wireless charger will power your phone from across the room

Wireless charging has been slow to take off, but a new technology, called uBeam, could change that.

It involves changing electricity into audio, which is then sent through the air over ultrasound, and when it reaches a receiver attached to a portable electronic devices, such as a smartphone, tablet or laptop, it's converted back into electricity to charge said device.

Get ready for a new household name

Perry aims to have uBeam products on shelves within the next two years and envisages flooding the market with them, so that as well as selling them to consumers they'll be found in coffee shops, hotels and offices.

Once (and if) they're everywhere, Perry points out that the need for large batteries in smartphones might be gone, as your phone could potentially be charging any time you're inside.

However it's not a perfect wireless charging solution, as the ultrasound waves can't pass through walls, so there would need to be a charger in every room of a house or office, otherwise you're still limited in where you can power your device.

There's also a question of efficiency. This wasn't brought up in the original article but one of the reasons that existing wireless chargers are so short range is so that they can charge quickly and efficiently without wasting too much energy.

It's not clear whether that will be an issue with uBeam as well, but on the whole it sounds promising and, most importantly, it apparently already works, which is always a good start.

  • Wondering why wireless charging isn't everywhere yet? So are we.

James is a freelance phones, tablets and wearables writer and sub-editor at TechRadar. He has a love for everything ‘smart’, from watches to lights, and can often be found arguing with AI assistants or drowning in the latest apps. James also contributes to 3G.co.uk, 4G.co.uk and 5G.co.uk and has written for T3, Digital Camera World, Clarity Media and others, with work on the web, in print and on TV.