The Wireless Power Consortium has announced that it has made some changes to the Qi wireless charging spec, the changes deal with backwards compatibility and more power. Soon, Qi chargers will soon support 15W fast charging thus making wireless charging almost nearly as fast as wired charging. One of the arguments against wireless charging has been that it’s slow but this latest spec change is going to go a long way to change that perception.
Many manufacturers already offer wired fast charging for devices which allow them to go up to 60 percent charge in around 30 minutes. The latest Qi specification allows manufacturers to extend this speed to wireless charging too.
It’s going to be a first in wireless charging, giving consumers more choice of Qi-compatible products and address many of their different needs while at home or on the move.
Aside from announcing this change to the Qi specification, the Wireless Power Consortium has also approved a new set of test procedures and tools that are required to verify fast charging products to ensure compliance with the updated Qi standard, while ensuring backwards compatibility with existing Qi products.
Currently this new specification is available only for the members of the Wireless Power Consortium, though we can expect it to go public at some point next year.