After six years of fighting the ever increasing tide against them, Powermat has joined the Qi-centric Wireless Power Consortium, effectively ending the battle between the two wireless charging solutions Qi Wireless has been dominant for a long time outside of the US but Powermat had significant backing here in the States, most notably with Starbucks.
The proverbial nail in the coffin it would seem was the decision by Apple to go with Qi (pronounced “Chee”) wireless charging on the new iPhone 8 and iPhone X.
“Qi has become the dominant wireless charging standard on the market and the recently launched Apple iPhone lineup is evidence of this success”, said Elad Dubzinski, Powermat CEO. “Powermat will share technology innovation to further unlock wireless charging potential, and will expedite the growth of the wireless charging infrastructure, bringing wireless charging to wherever users need it”.
Essentially, the company felt they had no more road left to explore with Apple picking horses in the race. Apple, more or less, ended that race.
Powermat will continue to make their on products and will share their technology with the consortium to further advance wireless charging technology. Equally, they will be working to make their solutions backward compatible to Qi wireless charging which will benefit consumers. It will mean that, in due course, if you see a wireless charging station at a Starbucks or other location, you will know it works (assuming you are still carrying a powermat Nokia device running Windows Mobile).
