While Samsung has been reportedly working on new wireless charging technologies including magnetic resonance wireless charging for quite a while now, with some of its 2014 smartphones rumored to pack such a feature, it appears that the Galaxy S5 won’t be one of them, Korean publication NewsTomato reports (via SamMobile). Wireless charging devices have been available for a while, although the technology isn’t quite a must-have feature for buyers. In many cases, users have to purchase additional equipment to be able to wirelessly charge batteries, which adds to the cost of a new device. Samsung has just launched an official case for the Galaxy S4 that has wireless charging support, although it’s not based on magnetic resonance tech, which means the same technology may still be used for the Galaxy S5, even if it won’t have magnetic resonance charging support.
The Galaxy S5 had also been rumored to pack an integrated eye scanner, but it looks like that won’t happen either.
Magnetic resonance wireless charging would let users recharge the batteries of their mobile devices that support the technology without necessarily placing them on a special charging pad. Instead, they’d be able to move the device around, and even use it while it would still be charging wirelessly. The current wireless charging solutions used by many smartphones require the handset and the pad to be in contact at all times, in order for the battery to recharge.
Other companies are already working on magnetic resonance wireless charging solutions that would offer support for charging multiple devices simultaneously (Intel’s smart charging bowl), and charging devices though furniture and even walls (Mediatek). The Alliance for Wireless Power (A4WP), which is backed by LG, Samsung, Qualcomm, Intel and others, demoed at CES 2014 its Rezence technology that uses magnetic resonance to charge devices, although there aren’t any products that include Rezence support in stores.
The video below shows WiTricity’s magnetic resonance wireless charging solution in action, as demoed to GigaOM at CES.
