Up until now 'wireless' charging solutions have, in fact, been anything but – all they've done is move the wire. So, instead of the wire going into a phone, it instead goes into a wireless charging pad or stand, with the handset then having to physically connect with it to charge.
With Xiaomi Mi Air Charge, though, that need to physically connect the handset with a charging source has been removed. Xiaomi Mi Air Charge Technology allows devices to be charged completely wirelessly. As in, you can be walking around your room using the phone and it will actually be charging wirelessly at the same time. Whoa!
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Announced today on the official Xiaomi newsroom, Xiaomi Mi Air Charge Technology is based around a self-developed isolated charging pile that has five phase interference antennas built in. These antennas can accurately detect the location of a smartphone in the vicinity, with a phase control array composed of 144 antennas transmits millimeter-wide waves directly to the phone through beamforming.
This is partnered, on the phone end, with a new miniaturized antenna array with built-in “beacon antenna” and “receiving antenna array”. The beacon antenna broadcasts position information with low power consumption, while the receiving antenna array composed of 14 antennas converts the millimeter wave signal emitted by the charging pile into electric energy through the rectifier circuit.
The result? The phone is charged completely wirelessly with 5-watt remote charge.
And, what makes Xiaomi Mi Air Charge Technology even more impressive is that multiple devices can be charged by the base station at any one time, with each getting a 5 watt feed. Oh, and if that wasn't mind-blowing enough, obstacles in the way of the the base station to the phone don't effect its charging efficiency.
Xiaomi see this technology as the future of charging, and not just for smartphones, either. Speaking on the technology's reveal, Xiaomi stated that:
"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."
Here at T3 we can't help but be very enthused by the unveiling of Xiaomi Mi Air Charge Technology. We've mentioned many times that true wireless charging is the Holy Grail of charging, and right here we've seemingly got our first taste of that. The technology here is clearly still in its early phase and we clearly don't think it will go mainstream imminently, but we'd love to see this roll out in the next couple of years.
Xiaomi really has been on a marked upward curve recently, and with hype for its upcoming Xiaomi Mi 11 range now at fever pitch, this latest unveiling just adds to the company's sense of being at the forefront of the smartphone world right now. Hopefully we'll get to go hands on with the Xiaomi Mi Air Charge soon.
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