This wireless charging receiver chip could end up in your next smartphone

By Christian de Looper Published November 27, 2018

Wireless charging is taking off, but it still requires you to place a device on a charging pad. Soon, however, wireless charging may be truly wireless — allowing you to charge a device while you carry it around your house thanks to base stations that would be located around the home.

Energous is one of the biggest names when it comes to developing a truly wireless future, and the company debuted its original WattUp wireless charging tech last year. Now, it’s working to make that tech even more accessible thanks to the launch of the new DA2223 receiver chip, which is designed for small electronic devices like smartphones.

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The chip itself measures 1.7 x 1.4 x 0.5 mm, making it a fraction of the size of even a coin. The chip doesn’t work alone, but according to Energous, depending on the power level of the device it’s being used in, the chip can be coupled with a matching circuit from two standard discrete components and a small antenna — which will make for a complete wireless charging receiver. In other words, the components required for true wireless charging are more than small enough to fit inside a smartphone.

So when should we expect to see chips like this show up in smartphones? Well, that remains to be seen. Apple was rumored to be working with Energous for the launch of recent smartphones, but so far no iPhone has featured Energous tech. Not only that, but including a receiver inside a smartphone is only one part of the equation; users will also need to install charging stations around their home, and businesses might want to do the same.

Earlier this year, Energous announced its Wireless Charging 2.0 tech, which it said allowed for truly wireless charging in a 15-foot radius around the wireless charging station. Generally speaking, the closer you are to a charging station, the quicker a device will charge.

One thing that Energous does promise is interoperability between wireless charging devices, which means a wireless charger built by Samsung will work with an Apple device, and vice versa. In other words, Energous is aiming to create a new standard that it can sell to manufacturing partners.

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Christian de Looper

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Christian de Looper is a long-time freelance writer who has covered every facet of the consumer tech and electric vehicle…

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