Samsung Wants to Make Wireless Charging Mainstream With Latest Flagship Phone Days ahead of the release its Galaxy S6, the Korean tech giant teased that 2015 would be a landmark year for the technology.
By Geoff Weiss
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Samsung is seeking to cut the cord with the Galaxy S6, its forthcoming flagship phone slated to launch at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona next month.
A post on the company's blog by principal engineer Seho Park all but confirms that Samsung's next generation of smartphones will aim to usher wireless charging into mainstream use, calling 2015 a "landmark year" for the technology.
Until now, wireless charging has involved coupling a device with some sort of physical dock, writes Park, such as with an electric toothbrush. Third party accessories, such as charger cases and portable chargers have also become popular. And to the extent that wireless charging plates already exist -- such as in major retailers like Starbucks and for Windows' latest Nokia Lumias -- the technology has been largely fragmented.
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That's because there are three organizations who standardize wireless charging, and devices aren't generally compatible with all three standards. Samsung, which is a member of all three groups and boasts a new chip that can support multiple standards, likely wants to make the technology universal with the S6 straight out of the box. (Samsung does currently vend optional charging plates for its Galaxy Note 4 and Galaxy S5, but they only support one standard.)
Samsung's wireless charging would also feature double the speed of previous paradigms, which is generally 20 to 30 percent as fast as traditional charging, Park writes. "With our upcoming Galaxy smartphones, users will be able to enter a new wireless world like never before."
Samsung has been feverishly teasing the S6 on social media of late with images hinting at its rumored curved edges and videos touting the device's efficiency and speed.
I am #TheNextGalaxy. See how I give more time to others at #Unpacked. https://t.co/zfYs03p90P
— SamsungMobile (@SamsungMobile) February 17, 2015
