Latest Qi standard promises fast charging times

While wireless charging is extremely convenient, as it allows you to charge your devices just by resting them on top of a charger, it is also very slow by modern standards, because of the low amount of power that can be transmitted. However, for the Qi standard, this issue is expected to go away soon.

Wireless Power Consortium, the group behind the standard, boasts that Qi will work more like Quick Charge, a Qualcomm technology, in the sense that it will transmit much more power to supporting devices to greatly decrease charging times.

"This release marks an important milestone for Qi, introducing the first higher power class and paving the way for our members to address more demanding applications with products that work seamlessly with the installed base of Qi-compatible products", says WPC chairman Menno Treffers.

In the latest version of the Qi standard, which was announced earlier this week, chargers will be able to deliver 15 watts of power to devices that support wireless fast charging (that is what I am calling it). WPC claims that this matches Quick Charge, with 60 percent of the battery being topped up in 30 minutes.

There are a couple of things to note here. First, devices that support wireless fast charging will be backwards compatible with existing chargers. That is to be expected. Second, it looks like there are no handsets that support wireless fast charging currently on the market. This means that only those who purchase new -- likely flagship-level products -- will actually benefit from this updated technology. And, third, those who have devices that support wireless fast charging will also need chargers that support this version of the Qi standard to fully take advantage of the increase in power transmission.

As you might expect with these kind of announcements, there is no word on when we can expect to see the latest version of the Qi wireless charging standard in actual products. However, it is likely that it will show up with the new wave of flagship Android and Windows Phone handsets launching this fall.

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