Toshiba’s TC7718FTG wireless power transmitter system was certified as Qi version 1.2 Extended Power Profile (EPP)-compliant by the Wireless Power Consortium, Toshiba said in a Wednesday news release. The system adopts MP-A2, which allows a simple system configuration, and is the first Qi-certified MP-A2 transmitter system, said Toshiba. In combination with Toshiba’s TC7766WBG 15-watt receiver IC, already certified as Qi version 1.2 EPP-compliant, the wireless power system can receive up to 15 watts, said the company. A 15-watt wireless transmitter incorporating the new IC recharges devices at a rate equal to or faster than wired chargers, it said. Target applications are smartphones, tablets and industrial devices.

Aircharge bowed Tuesday a battery pack to bring Qi wireless charging to venues without direct access to power. The starter pack includes a battery charging rack and five rechargeable battery “pucks,” with a combined capacity of 18,000 mAh, said the company. Each pack allows eight full charging cycles before a recharge is required, it said. Target venues include restaurants, bars, malls, shops, transportation lounges and waiting areas and event spaces, said the company.

WiTricity is collaborating with Prodrive Technologies to develop an 11kW wireless charging system for an unnamed European carmaker planning to release its first wirelessly charged electric vehicles in 2019. WiTricity will provide its magnetic resonance intellectual property, reference designs and consulting services to the project and use WiTricity designs to develop an automotive mass market system based on the automaker’s specific requirements, said the announcement. The Prodrive system will be capable of charge rates up to 11 kW at high efficiency, comparable to the efficiency of today’s wired charging systems, said the company, and it's researching energy transfer of up to 22 kW for automotive use, it said. Prodrive will deliver an end-to-end system, including the components that are integrated with the vehicle to capture the wireless power, and the garage floor-mounted charging pad and wall box delivering the wireless power, it said.

Integrated Device Technology’s P9038 Qi-based wireless power transmitter will enable wireless charging in upcoming Samsonite EnerQI and Lady Tech luggage collections, IDT said in a Wednesday news release. The IDT chips will be integrated into power banks built into the Samsonite products due to roll out in Europe in Q1, followed by global availability, said IDT. IDT’s wireless power chips also are embedded in wearables, furniture and remote controls, said the company.

Samsung picked IDT’s Wireless PowerShare wireless-charging “architecture” for its new Galaxy Note7 smartphone, IDT CEO Gregory Waters said on a Monday earnings call. Preorders on the Galaxy Note7 begin Wednesday in advance of Aug. 19 availability, Samsung said Tuesday (see 1608020036). Wireless charging, “in terms of the way it's progressed, we're extremely pleased and extremely proud of it,” Waters said. IDT continues to land design wins in every “major socket that we want to participate in out there right now,” he said. He also expects “there will be an additional wave of new entrants into wireless charging that we're not putting a specific time frame on,” he said. Major “Tier 1" smartphone and smartwatch suppliers that have yet to field a wireless charging commercial product “have all pretty much completed a wireless charging design,” he said. “So when they make the business decision that it's the right time for them to actually enter the market with wireless charging, I think those design cycles could go very, very fast.” Whether that activity “actually begins to contribute this calendar year” to IDT’s revenue line is “too early to call, but it's coming,” he said.

Qualcomm and Lear signed a wireless electric vehicle charging (WEVC) license agreement, the companies said Wednesday in a news release. Lear will include Qualcomm Halo WEVC technology in its product portfolio to commercialize WEVC systems for plug-in hybrid and electric vehicle (EV) manufacturers, as well as wireless charging infrastructure companies. Qualcomm granted Lear a royalty-bearing license to develop, make and supply WEVC systems based on Qualcomm Halo technology with Qualcomm providing technical expertise and engineering support, they said. Lear Electrical President Frank Orsini said wireless charging is a new opportunity to serve customers as they develop their EV strategies.

Wireless charging could “radically change the market landscape,” but it likely will be years “before these technologies become a mainstream solution,” ABI Research said in a Monday report. “Mobile leaders” like Apple and Samsung “are moving wireless charging forward by integrating inductive charging into smartphones and wearables,” said the firm. “But most wire-free charging technologies still need to meet regulatory approval, which could significantly delay product launches or even derail any momentum garnered thus far.” As wireless charging “steps to the forefront” of the market, “the competitive landscape will focus less on competing technologies and more on the growing number of applications and use cases,” it said. ABI thinks inductive and resonant charging “remain the best wireless charging options for now, with shipments clearing one billion by 2019,” it said. But wireless charging “still has many questions to answer in the market” before it can go mainstream, it said.

AirFuel Alliance announced availability of an automated test system from Comarch for its Authorized Test Labs (ATL) to verify compliance with the magnetic resonance standard. It’s a “crucial step” in AirFuel’s product certification process and key to consumers having a “consistent wireless charging experience across all of AirFuel’s resonant-certified products,” said the alliance. The alliance also said AirFuel member TTA is the first ATL to offer transmitter resonator testing, and Semtech has demonstrated the industry’s first tri-model wireless charger for inductive and resonant wireless charging.

One in 10 smartphones shipped worldwide this year will include wireless charging capability, said an IHS report Monday. The global wireless charging transmitter market more than doubled in 2015 to 53 million transmitter shipments, said the report, while 2.8 billion wireless charging transmitters and receivers are forecast to ship in 2025. Transmitter shipments are being driven by adoption in the receiver market “and by the attach rate for each receiver application,” said analyst Vicky Yussuff, saying wearables typically ship with a dedicated wireless charger in the box. Wireless charging will see the biggest volume increase when it's offered as the primary means to charge a device, she said. Apple Watch contributed significantly to the more than 23 million wearable-device transmitters shipped in 2015, said Yussuff. Samsung, meanwhile, heavily promoted wireless charging transmitters in the Galaxy S6 last year, offering two-for-one and free transmitters for consumers who signed up for Samsung Pay, a strategy it carried over to the Galaxy S7 smartphone earlier this year. Awareness remains an issue near term since most wireless charging receiver devices aren't shipped with an accompanying transmitter, she said. “Consumers might not be aware of -- or even choose to use -- wireless charging features built into their devices,” bringing the receiver-to-transmitter attach rate down, Yussuff said. The introduction of wireless-charging notebook PCs later this year will further expand the market and create a need for wireless charging in public places, she said. “General public-space deployment is one of the most important ways to increase awareness, usage and demand for wireless charging technology.” Select McDonald’s, Starbucks, Marriott and Hilton venues offer wireless charging, “and further penetration of the technology in more public areas will intensify growth in the public infrastructure segment of the market,” she said. The one millionth public infrastructure transmitter is forecast to ship this year, Yussuff said.

Chipmaker Integrated Device Technology thinks it’s just “a matter of time” before “major players” move into wireless charging “in more of the traditional smartphone areas,” CEO Gregory Waters said on a Monday earnings call. Though any mass-market “pickup” in wireless smartphone charging “could take a year or even more to really turn into a meaningful revenue number,” even the mass-market segment is showing signs that it’s “going well ahead of our expectations,” Waters said. For example, “we have built thousands of mass market kits for wireless charging and keep selling out of them,” he said. “So I think the adoption of wireless charging is simply a matter of timing right now.”