Wireless connections for power and battery charging are becoming increasingly popular, not just in mobile devices but in a wide range of situations from medical equipment to electric vehicles. The adoption of international standards - such as the Qi technology used by recent devices from HTC, LG and Nokia - is also helping to drive the market, according to a new report from Pike Research.
As a result, it expects the market for wireless power to mobile devices will be worth over $5 billion (£3.15 billion) per year by 2020… and the total wireless charging market to be $15 billion, which is three times its current value.
Eric Woods, research director at Pike Research, said “The barriers to adoption for wireless power are lifting, and it’s clear that this is an environmentally friendly set of technologies that, before the end of the decade, could contribute to a significant reduction in carbon emissions and embedded energy used to produce, ship, and dispose of conventional charging equipment. Wireless power will become a ubiquitous form of charging in many applications.”
The future of wireless power can be seen in moves toward a smarter connected power infrastructure, according to the report, including public wireless charging ‘hotzones’ similar to WiFi hotspots.
[Report]