Motorola team-up will bring over-the-air wireless power to smartphones
Recognition: Eric Zeman / Android Authority
- Motorola plans to wirelessly power its smartphones wirelessly using GuRu.
- You can charge your phone from “meters” away.
- The two didn’t say when the first phones would be ready.
Xiaomi isn’t the only company hoping to make wireless charging a practical reality. Motorola is expanding its previous air-to-air plans by partnering with GuRu to bring true wireless power to its smartphones. This makes Motorola one of the first phone brands to use this technology.
The future devices would use GuRu’s RF lens technology to deliver wireless power at a “watt-over-meter” level. In other words, your phone can be charged several feet away from a base station. It is not certain how the GuRu system will change (if at all) with the partnership, but Motorola has “strict” requirements for efficiency, quality and safety.
Read more: The best phones with wireless charging
No timeframe was mentioned for Motorola wireless wireless powered phones, although the timing suggests you won’t see them in 2021.
Completely wireless power supply currently has some tradeoffs. When Motorola first teased its own technology, it described a system that charged up to 3.3 feet away. This is important, but you won’t be charging your phone from anywhere in the room. You probably won’t get fast wireless charging either – the Xiaomi system, for example, reaches a rating of 5W. It’s also safe to assume that the system is expensive compared to Qi chargers, and there’s a good chance it just is available separately.
Even so, Motorola’s move could bring wireless power a lot closer to the mainstream. Will you see portable phones soon after? Probably not – it could take a while before wireless charging is powerful, inexpensive, and reliable enough to get rid of cables and pads. However, the concept of a portable phone is not as far-fetched as you might think.
