For the past few years, magnetic levitation or magnetic suspension has been used for creating unconventional gadgets including levitating Bluetooth speakers, which seem to have created a market niche of their own. However, what you may not have seen before is a wireless charger for smartphones that relies on magnetic suspension to keep a handset floating in the air while its battery receives electrical current. Such a thing exists on Kickstarter and it may actually become a real product by the end of the year. It’s called the OvRcharge, and it is labeled as a “levitating wireless charger” created by Canadian-based startup AR Designs.
The basic principles behind OvRcharge are fairly simple, and the product consists of two main components, namely the charging base, and the charging case. The charging base is where all the science happens, and consists of a polished block of wood that contains all the necessary components to keep smartphones floating in the air through magnetic levitation, while sending electrical current to their batteries – or rather the charging case – using wireless inductive charging; a technology that relies on electromagnetic fields to transfer energy between a sender and receiver coil. The charging case includes an electrical receiver and sticks to a magnet whose role is to keep up to 600 grams worth of smart technology floating in the air. With that being said, it’s quite obvious that the OvRcharge charging case is not universal, and instead, several models were designed for a handful of smartphones. The list includes the iPhone 5 and newer, the Samsung Galaxy S6 and Galaxy S7 series, the Samsung Galaxy Note 7 and its predecessor, and the Galaxy J2 and Galaxy J7. The startup also designed cases for the Sony Xperia X, XA, Xperia Z6, M5 and E5, a handful of LG smartphones including the LG G5, V10, and Nexus 5X, as well as the HTC 10, the OnePlus 3, and a few Huawei terminals including the Nexus 6P. More models will be added later, according to AR Designs, and buyers can otherwise rely on a third party attachment and magnet that can work with regular cases.
A few other things to keep in mind is that the OvRcharge won’t recharge your smartphone faster than a regular cable, but on the contrary, the beauty of a levitating smartphone will come at a slight cost of energy efficiency. Otherwise, prospective backers should be pleased to know that the OvRcharge will measure 140 x 140 x 33 millimeters, and that a larger “OvRcharge Ultra” model will also be available, wrapped in a wooden case measuring 170 x 170 x 35 millimeters. At the time of writing the OvRcharge Kickstarter project had 152 backers that have pledged a total of $39,043 CAD out of the $40,000 goal, and with 14 days to go, it’s likely that AR Designs will reach their target by the end of the fundraiser. If everything goes according to plan, the product will enter pilot run & production in September-October, and should be delivered to backers in November-December 2016.
