Less Than Third of Users Own Wireless Chargers Despite Large Base of Phones

More than 600 million smartphones and other devices with contact-based wireless charging shipped worldwide last year, but nearly 70 percent of consumers don’t own contact charging pads to leverage the technology, said a Tuesday report from wireless charging company Wi-Charge and Zogby Analytics. Half of U.S. consumers who do own Qi wireless chargers have concerns about the technology’s “sub-par reliability, speed and the need to leave their phone on the pad, which reduces true mobility,” said the company. A third said their mobile devices die “multiple times every week,” even when fully charged overnight. A quarter said they would pay a premium for devices that could charge themselves without user intervention through long-range wireless charging, and 25 percent with smart home devices would spend 10 percent more for a smart home device with long-range wireless power if that meant making the device more mobile and easier to maintain. Wi-Charge is developing an infrared wireless charger that will initially target smart home devices, Yuval Boger, chief marketing officer, told us in a pre-brief last week. Wireless charging is “more topical than ever” because of the extra burden 5G technology is expected to put on smartphone batteries, said Boger. Wi-Charge demoed its technology with Schlage at CES for smart locks and security cameras. On its progress with Schlage products since then, the marketer said, “we’ll report progress when they want,” noting the routine of working with a larger company. Wi-Charge expects to market a product in 2020, but it’s not “super-focused” on smartphones today, Boger said. Phone makers “are even larger companies: They know what’s inside 2022 phones today.”