French company Rifft will show at CES a wireless charging system that charges multiple Qi-based devices simultaneously. The system is based on magnetic slabs that can be designed into furniture or placed on a hard surface. Users can personalize the modular slabs, which contain Qi power transmitters, fitting them together like a jigsaw puzzle that connects to one power outlet. The finishing plate that covers the magnetic charging layer can be customized by color, texture, finish and size. Users can charge devices not Qi-enabled by adding a Wi Surf receiving antenna, said the company. Rifft will exhibit at booth #50221 in Eureka Park at the Sands during next month's CES in Las Vegas.

The wireless charging market has been “much slower to develop than we anticipated,” said ON Semiconductor CEO Keith Jackson during Q&A on the company’s Q3 earnings call Monday. Jackson was responding to an analyst’s question on the lack of an update on the technology after the company mentioned wireless charging on previous calls. Most applications for wireless charging “appear to be going for multi-mode charging, which we’ve introduced devices for,” said Jackson. ON expects mobile handsets to drive its wireless charging business, and it expects to see “some improvement here for ’18,” Jackson said. ON announced in June an agreement to develop and market a wireless power transfer technology from PowerSphyr that combines near-and far-field wireless charging in a chip targeted to OEMs. David Meng, PowerSphyr CEO, told us (see 1710060023) it hopes to bring the tri-mode wireless charging solution to OEMs in Q1 for consumer-facing products available in first half. ON had Q3 revenue of $1.4 billion, a 46 percent increase from the year-ago quarter.

LG’s flagship V30 smartphone is the first to incorporate Qi wireless charging Extended Power Profile (EPP) based on Integrated Device Technology wireless power chips, said LG and IDT in a joint announcement Monday. EPP is said to enable safe, wireless fast charging capability, while remaining compatible with existing Wireless Power Consortium Qi 5W baseline transmitters commonly used today, they said. The chips reduce wireless charging time by up to 30 percent, said IDT. Additional features of the phone are an F1.6 aperture glass lens, OLED display, high-fidelity digital-to-analog converter and sound tuning by B&O Play. The chip's 32-bit ARM M0 core architecture has allowed LG to optimize wireless charging performance and charging speed, they said.

Apple’s takeover could bring PowerbyProxi's technology to market more quickly, wireless power industry consultant LeRoy Johnson said Monday. The New Zealand company reportedly has 300-plus wireless charging patents (see 1710250043 or 1710250053). Johnson, who has worked with PowerbyProxi, called the company “innovative” in its plans to stretch the Qi wireless charging standard’s limits for distance and power. Qi is the “clear winner” in the standards battle on "everything except charging electric vehicles,” Johnson said.

Apple didn’t respond to questions Wednesday on its reported buy of New Zealand-based wireless charging company PowerbyProxi. The acquisition was reported by stuff.co.nz Wednesday. The New Zealand company employs 55 staff and holds more than 300 wireless charging patents, said the report. PowerbyProxi showed its wireless power system in the U.S. for the first time in March at APEC 2017 in Tampa and Automate 2017 in Chicago in April, it said in a news release. The company called the Proxi-Module modular and flexible, with the highest power density of any solution on the market and maximum end-to-end efficiency to 91 percent. The system offered foreign object detection for safety, dynamic and automatic pairing and an optional add-on for wireless data options. Applications included batteries for robots and drones; sensors, actuators and motors on moving or rotating platforms; and hermetically sealed, waterproof appliances, it said. The company also showed at Automate its Proxy-Com paired with a module to offer customers a turnkey wireless power and data platform they can quickly integrate into their products or application. Apple announced last month it will introduce the AirPower wireless charging pad next year.

Energous announced its latest wireless charging, Near Field WattUp, that's capable of charging devices with up to 10 watts of energy, it said in a Tuesday news release. That expands Energous’ wireless charging capabilities beyond wearables to smartphones, tablets, smart speakers, game controllers, drones and other similarly powered devices, it said. Extending the high-power charging capabilities enables “many different types of devices to be charged from multiple transmitter options,” said CEO Stephen Rizzone. By expanding its portfolio of reference designs, Energous can support customer requests for additional options and power levels, said Rizzone. Energous’ reference designs -- high-power, quick charging, low power, small form factor, mid-field and far-field power-at-a-distance -- give customers a single source to meet all their wireless charging requirements, said Mark Tyndall, senior vice president-corporate development and strategy at Dialog Semiconductor, an Energous investor and its manufacturing partner. Specs include GaN-based 5-10-watt RF receiver integrated circuit; GaN-based 10-15-watt RF power amplifier; RF-based charging allowing for full two-dimensional movement; support for 90-degree charging angles; small receiver size; and accommodation of metal and other foreign objects. On the company’s most recent earnings call, Rizzone said (see 1708100038) the company is on track to deliver its first commercial-scale quantities of silicon to small-scale, early adopter customers by year-end.

German wireless charging company RAVPower will demonstrate at IFA this week a 10-watt Qi wireless charging pad that doesn’t suffer the charging speed loss that affects most wireless chargers, said the company in a Monday announcement. The device, roughly $95, will be available in October.

Aircharge said Friday it will launch at IFA a Qi-based wireless charging case for the iPhone 7 and 7 Plus. Aircharge is the largest deployer of wireless charging points in public venues, with 4,500 locations in restaurants, hotels, shops, airports and train stations, it said. The company will exhibit in hall 15, booth 167.

Components supplier Integrated Device Technology thinks wireless charging will move “from early adopters to mainstream usage starting late this calendar year, and that this trend continues throughout 2018,” said CEO Greg Waters on a Monday earnings call. “Wireless charging is probably kind of in an in-between phase right now, but we do see a meaningfully increase” in consumer adoption coming later in 2017, he said.

Dialog Semiconductor plugged an additional $15 million into RF wireless charging company Energous and will continue as the exclusive component supplier of Energous' WattUp technology, the companies said in a Thursday announcement. Energous will continue to have access to Dialog's sales and distribution channels, they said. Dialog made its first investment in Energous, for $10 million, in November. Energous’ WattUp technology uses Dialog’s SmartBond Bluetooth low energy technology as the out-of-band communications channel between the wireless transmitter and receiver. Dialog’s power management technology distributes power from the receiver IC to the device, and its power conversion technology delivers power to the wireless transmitter. Mark Tyndall, Dialog’s senior vice president-corporate development, cited in a statement “large demand for completely untethered wireless charging, as more consumer electronics manufacturers seek to add new capabilities to their devices to differentiate themselves.” Energous shares closed up 6.9 percent Thursday to $16.45.