A new report says Sony will introduce a new wireless charging technology for some of its phones in 2014, that will be able to cut the charging time of its smartphones in half. This couldn’t have arrived at a better time because phones are getting bigger and bigger batteries lately, and the charging times for them are getting longer and longer. This may not be a huge problem for you if you charge your phone during the night, but if you’re left with the battery empty during the day, then that may become a problem.
Sony is apparently working with a company called Rohm to decrease wireless charging to about an hour, which would make charging quite fast compared to the 2, 3 or even 4 hours we see now on devices. The power intake of the devices will be boosted to 10-15W, so that’s how they’re able to do this.
The wireless charging technology is based on the Qi standard, so if you were worried about Sony inventing its own proprietary technology, don’t be. The market for wireless charging is so new to begin with, that it wouldn’t help any one company to use their own proprietary standard, perhaps with the exception of Apple.
Sony, together with Rohm, has reengineered the circuitry of the devices, so they don’t get very hot as they are charging with these wireless pads. Of course that wouldn’t be a huge problem anyway, unless you start using your phone immediately after charging it, although if it does get hot it may negatively affect the longevity of the battery, but apparently Sony won’t have an issue with this, and hopefully other OEM’s won’t either.
Sony will begin to use this new technology in the second half of 2014, so perhaps starting with the successor of the Xperia Z2, whichever that may be, and if we’re lucky and they get accepted in the Nexus program, in the 2014 edition of the Nexus phone. For those not willing to wait however, the Xperia Z1 is available now. Google tried to push wireless charging with the Nexus 4, too, but not in a very aggressive way, and there are no rumors about them doing that again with the Nexus 5. But if Sony’s solution works this well, and they are selected for next year’s Nexus, we may see a comeback for wireless charging of Nexus phones, too.