Xiaomi

Chinese electronics giant Xiaomi has teased the new “Mi Air Charge Technology” on Thursday, a new wireless charging technology, which will let users remotely charge their electronic devices (including smart phones) without any cables, pads, or wireless charging stands. Instead, users will be able to charge their devices ‘over-the-air’, as can be seen in this demonstration video:

This revolutionary technology, coming from one of the largest smartphone manufacturers in the world, will introduce a new way of charging your smart devices- something we hope to see in the commercial market very soon.

Xiaomi invited users to a “true wireless charging era,” claiming that its new technology can power multiple devices “within a radius of several meters,” even with physical obstacles.

The Mi Air Charge Technology is already one of a kind, unlike current wireless charging technologies. Most wireless technologies today have power transferred wirelessly using inductive charging over a distance of up to 4 centimeters.

Xiaomi has revealed that an in-house isolated charging pile with five phase interference antennas built-in has been developed to “accurately detect the location of the smartphone.” Millimeter-wide waves are transmitted directly to the phone through a phase control array. The waves reach the phone directly through beamforming (a technique that focuses a wireless signal towards a specific receiving device, rather than having the signal spread in all directions from a broadcast antenna, resulting in a faster and more reliable connection.)

If you had trouble understanding all of that, let me paraphrase it for you: Using the new Mi Air Charge Technology, you will be able to charge your smartphone (and other devices) over the air, with absolutely no need to place the item on a pad. Thus, this will be the first contactless charging technology in the world.

Xiaomi also plans to introduce this system into smartwatches, bracelets, and other wearable devices.

At present, Xiaomi’s remote charging technology is capable of “5-watt remote charging for a single device within a radius of several meters. Apart from that, multiple devices can also be charged at the same time (each device supports 5 watts),” the company revealed.

However, if like myself, you can’t wait to get your hands on this new charger, we have some bad news.  Xiaomi has revealed that this technology will not be available in the ‘near’ future, and is “currently a tech demo,” according to a Xiaomi spokesperson.