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Wireless charging, general description

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All wireless charging in consumer electronics is based on inductive charging (electromagnetic induction between coils installed in the charger and charging device). The charging power and effectiveness significantly depend on distance from the charger (not more than 4cm) and mutual positioning (certain orientation of the inductance coils of the charging and charged devices).

The efficiency rate of inductive chargers usually falls between 70% and 80%, though some newer models boast efficiencies closer to 90%. However, there are a few methods used by charger manufacturers to simplify the positioning of the charged device - installing a few coils in the charging pad in order to allow the same charging experience despite vertical or horizontal smartphone orientation, using magnets to attach and position the charged device thereby improving charging efficiency and user experience.

Some manufacturers implement dual-coil designs to increase power output by transmitting power in parallel (OPPO AirVOOC).

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Qi, Qi2 wireless charging standards

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Qi is an open, collaborative wireless charging standard developed by the Wireless Power Consortium (WPC), and has become one of the most widely adopted standards within the consumer electronics market. 

It is a very popular open standard for wireless charging first released in 2008. In April 2023 new Qi2 standard was released. One of the noticeable features of Qi2 is incorporating Apple MagSafe technology - a magnetic connection that improves the correct orientation of the charged device and improves user experience.

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Versions of Qi standard:

  • Qi1.0 - Qi Baseline Power Profile (BPP) - low power power profile capable of providing up to 5W of energy. Data transmission is unidirectional from the power transmitter to the receiver.

  • Qi1.1 - Introduced foreign object detection and support of multiple power transmitters.

  • Qi1.2 - Qi Extended Power Profile (EPP) - provides 15W and EPP5 (EPP protocol restricted to provide up to 5W). Power receivers get their own ID and implement optimized performance related to thermal control. It was introduced bi-directional communication between the power transmitter and receiver.

  • Qi1.3 - General improvements related to Foreign Object Detection (FOD) and secure authentication to improve power negotiation between transmitter and receiver working on different Qi standards.

  • Qi2.0 - The latest standard, provides 15W, It introduced MPP - Magnetic Power Profile which derives from Apple's MagSafe but it's an open standard. It supports legacy BPP and EPP profiles.  The transmitter and receiver operate at a frequency of 360KHz, compared to BPP & EPP’s operating frequency range of 87KHz to 205KHz. MPP's improved communication lets it transfer data four times faster compared to previous power profiles, which also enables faster authentication. The frequency was changed in order to avoid interference with other devices such as car key fobs. Foreign object detection was improved (MPLA technology) for safety reasons and better user experience. ​​​

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Notes:

  • Almost all smartphone manufacturers even if they implement proprietary charging protocols also add Qi support to their chargers up to 10W, some 15W.

  • All Apple iPhone 12-15 series phones have received official Qi2 certification from the Wireless Power Consortium (WPC). The iPhone 16 series, set to launch in 2024, will also support Qi2 wireless charging.

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Apple AirPower, MagSafe
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AirPower

In 2017, Apple announced AirPower, it is developed based on the Qi standard. It was used up to 2019 and then discontinued due to technical flaws due to overheating issues.

The main feature is using over 20 charging coils in order to charge several devices simultaneously without the need to place them in a certain orientation.

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MagSafe

Initially, Magsafe was the name of Apple's proprietary wired connector, but later they started using this name for wireless charging. 

The proprietary wireless protocol was announced on October 13, 2020.

It provides up to 15W of power and is compatible with the Qi standard for up to 7.5W of power.​

One of the benefits is embedded magnets which attach a charging device and correctly locate it in front of charging coils for better efficiency and reliability.

Qi-compatible devices without MagSafe need to be manually aligned as they do not have the built-in array of magnets that interlock with MagSafe

In 2023, the Wireless Power Consortium announced the Qi2 standard that is based on MagSafe.​

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Google wireless charging

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Google also has developed proprietary wireless charging technology.

Wireless charging rates up to 18W (Pixel 8) and up to 23W (Pixel 8 Pro) charging with Google Pixel Stand (2nd gen). For other Qi-certified EPP devices, it provides up to 15W (EPP-Extended Power Profile).

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Note: The Pixel 8, 8 Pro, and Pixel 9 smartphones do not support Qi2, but can be charged wirelessly at higher power than Qi2 can provide using Google Pixel Stand.​

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Samsung Wireless Fast Charge - PPDE (Proprietary Power Delivery Extension)

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Samsung has its own proprietary version of wireless charging technology.

Versions:

  • Samsung flagmanship smartphones starting from S6 are supporting Qi1.0 (BPP - 5W)

  • Wireless fast charge (PPDE - Proprietary Power Delivery Extension) - is the extension based on BPP and provides up to 9W. This is Samsung's proprietary technology. It is compatible with BPP (Qi1.0 - 5W), but not with EPP (Qi1.2 and higher).

  • (Super) Fast Wireless Charging 2.0. It provides up to 15W for Samsung flagship devices and up to 7.5W for 3d party Apple/Qi-compatible devices​​​

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OPPO/OnePlus AirVOOC wireless flash charge

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AirVOOC is a proprietary wireless charging protocol made by OPPO/OnePlus, it is compatible with Qi BPP (5W) and EPP (up to 10W). It requires correct vertical smartphone positioning to get better results. AirVOOC has different power versions however the technology is the same so modern powerful chargers can charge older smartphones from this manufacturer. To reach high power charging it was chosen the pash of low current high voltage (in contrast to conventional wired VOOC charging) because the limiting factor is a thin coil and the only way to get high power transmission is by increasing voltage.

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AirVOOC chargers versions:

  • 30W AirVOOC wireless flash charge - the first AIRVOOC version

  • 40W AirVOOC wireless flash charge - the next wireless charging version was introduced together with OPPO Ace2 smartphone which also supports 10W Wireless Reverse Charging. 

  • 45W AirVOOC wireless flash charge.

  • 50W AirVOOC wireless flash charge. It introduced a double wireless coil design.

  • 65W AirVOOC wireless flash charge. Dual coil design 40W and 25W coils with parallel power transmitting while smartphone located in vertical orientation. If a smartphone is located horizontally then transmitting power is limited up to 25W only. This is the most advanced AirVOOC version and includes various protective measures including protections for overvoltage, overcurrent, overtemperature, electrostatic, undervoltage, and foreign objects. Foreign Object Detection (FOD) intelligently identifies metal foreign objects such as keys and coins, then sends an alarm and cuts off power automatically.​

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Vivo, iQOO Wireless Flash Charge

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This is proprietary wireless charging technology, compatible with Qi (up to 15W).

There is only one version available 50W/ the charger has a dual-coil design that lets you place your phone in either portrait or landscape orientations with the same charging power output result. The charger has a low-noise 3600rpm fan, which can be switched to silent mode by reducing charging power to 15W.​​​

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HUAWEI SuperCharge Wireless​


This is proprietary wireless charging technology compatible with Qi charging protocol.

Versions:

  • 27W

  • 40W

  • 50W 

  • 80W - double coil design, supports vertical and horizontal charging. It has night silent mode, foreign object detection and other safety features.​
     

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Xiaomi wireless charging (Hypercharge)

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This is proprietary wireless charging technology compatible with Qi (Apple smartphones -7.5W, Samsung 10W, other Qi devices - 10W (EPP10W))

  • 20W - double coil design (vertical and horizontal charging orientation)

  • 40W

  • 50W

  • 80W Hypercharge - dual coil design vertical and horizontal charging orientation).

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Mediatek Pump Express 4.0

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It was announced that PE 4.0 standard supports wireless charging but there are no products on the market that actually implement this technology to discover their wireless capabilities.

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Motorola TurboPower Wireless Charging

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Motorola produces Qi-compatible wireless charging stands under its brand name Turbopower. It's fully Qi-compatible.

There are exist 3 versions of the chargers: 10W, 15W, and 15W stand with 2 coils.​

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Infinix MagCharge, Wireless All-Round FastCharge

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Infinix has a few wireless chargers:

  • 15W - standard Qi-compatible wireless charging

  • 20W MagCharge - require a MagCase case for their smartphone in order to be magnetically attached to the charging pad. There are no constant magnets, magnetism is created as a result of electromagnetic induction during charging.

  • 110W Wireless All-Round FastCharge - proprietary technology with dual coil design for vertical and horizontal charging.

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Additional information

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