Ikea reveal wireless phone charging furniture
Hassle-free smartphone charging is here!
Those half-broken, wire-bearing chargers that we all hate will soon be a thing of the past. Swedish retail giant Ikea announced that from April this year, a new range of innovative smart furnitures, that will charge your phone wirelessly, will be available for purchase in the USA and the UK. If you do not live in either of those countries fear not, for sooner or later this genius idea is set to go global.
Ikea business area manager for wireless charging, Jeanette Skjelmose, stated: “Through research and home visits, we know that people hate cable mess. They worry about not finding the charger and running out of power. Our new innovative solutions, which integrate wireless charging into home furnishings, will make life at home simpler.”
Because of this, Ikea has partnered with the Wireless Power Consortium to bring consumers efficient cable-free charging on a range of items such as coffee tables and lamps; what a bright idea! I bet you thought that it was only famous for its Swedish meatballs and 60p hot dogs!
According to PR Newswire (www.prnewsire.com), “Qi is the most widely deployed wireless power standard, available in 3,000 hotels, restaurants, airports and public locations worldwide. There are now more than 80 Qi-enabled smartphones, 15 models of Qi-enabled cars and countless Qi mobile accessories in the market today.”
With impressive figures such as these, you would have thought that wireless charging would work with the most popular smartphone - the iPhone right? Wrong! Apple iPhone users like me are out of luck as our phones are deemed incompatible (looks like we’re stuck with the oh-so-familiar sight of bare wires for a bit longer).
However, if you’re feeling creative, there are plenty of links online that demonstrate how to hack hardware and make iPhones capable of charging, sans wires, but this unfortunately requires a bit more effort than just popping to your local Ikea.
So, if you’re one of the lucky ones that has a compatible smartphone such as the Samsung Galaxy or Nexus 6 your luck is in as you only have to wait one month until you are able to ditch the cables and stress of finding your charger.
However, if you’re a true iPhone fan like most of us or if you live outside of the UK/USA then we have no choice but to sit back and wait for this break in technology to benefit our smartphone-filled lives.
