Xiaomi introduces its new technology for true wireless charging

Imagine charging your phone by simply entering a room where a base station uses 144 antennas to shoot out mm waves to 14 antennas embedded inside your phone. These OTA signals are part of Xiaomi’s 5W Mi Air Charge Technology. In a blog post published today, Xiaomi says that the system will charge multiple devices at once while the charging waves travel through obstacles on the way to connect with devices. With the rectifier circuit, the 14 antennas in the phone help to convert the mm waves into the energy used to charge the battery in the device.

You might recall that nearly four years ago we told you that Disney was working on OTA wireless charging based on Nikola Tesla’s coil circuit which produces an energy field. To show how this might work in the future, the company built a mock living room that contained a smartphone, a lamp, a remote control car and a fan. All of those devices were charged by the OTA signals produced by a long copper tube placed in the room with current running up and down it at 1.3 million times per second.

Back in 2016, we told you that Apple had agreed to team up with Energous for its WattUp remote wireless charging technology. That report noted that both firms had actually started teaming up in 2014. Ironically, at the time of this report, the iPhone did not offer wireless charging. Thus far, Apple and Energous have yet to announced any new wireless charging feature.

In its blog post, Xiaomi said that the technology is “not science fiction.” It added, “Revolutionizing the current wireless charging methods, Mi Air Charge Technology enables users to remotely charge electronic devices without any cables or wireless charging stands. Today, we enter a true wireless charging era.”

The company, based in China, said, “In the near future, Xiaomi’s self-developed space isolation charging technology will also be able to work with smart watches, bracelets and other wearable devices. Soon our living room devices, including speakers, desk lamps and other small smart home products, will all be built upon a wireless power supply design, completely free of wires, making our living rooms truly wireless.”