Wireless charging has become a common feature in many smart devices, thanks to Qi wireless charging technology. However, there are still some smaller electronic gadgets where wireless charging has not been widely adopted. This is because Qi charging requires a relatively large coil to accommodate the necessary power transfer, which can be challenging to fit into more compact devices.
Fortunately, a potential solution to this problem may be on the horizon – NFC wireless charging. According to a report from Android Authority, Google could be planning to add support for NFC wireless charging in Android 15. The team at Android Authority noticed a class called “NfcCharging” when examining the app that handles NFC-related events, suggesting that this feature may be in development.
NFC Wireless Charging vs Qi Charging
NFC wireless charging offers some key advantages over Qi charging. The antennas required for NFC charging can be significantly smaller, even less than 1 cm in size, and can be integrated into flexible, bendable printed circuit boards (PCBs). This makes NFC charging a more viable option for tiny smart devices like earbuds, styluses, smartwatches, and tracker tags.
Many of these smaller, low-power devices already come equipped with an NFC chip for basic data transfers. Leveraging this existing NFC hardware to handle both communication and wireless charging could be a game-changer, simplifying the design and potentially reducing the cost of implementing wireless charging in these compact devices.
Despite being announced four years ago, NFC wireless charging has yet to see widespread adoption due to a lack of platform support. However, the potential integration of NFC wireless charging in Android 15 could help change that, making it more accessible and practical for a wider range of consumer electronics.
FAQ
Q: What is NFC Wireless Charging?
NFC Wireless Charging is a specification created by the NFC Forum industry association that allows for wireless charging of small electronic devices using much smaller antennas than traditional Qi wireless charging.
This makes it suitable for devices like earbuds, styluses, smartwatches, and tracker tags that don’t have enough internal space for a larger Qi charging coil.
Q: Why hasn’t NFC Wireless Charging seen wider adoption yet?
One of the main reasons for the lack of widespread adoption of NFC Wireless Charging is lack of platform support from major operating systems, including Android.
However, the upcoming Android 15 update is said to be adding support for NFC Wireless Charging, which could help drive its adoption in the market.
Q: What are some potential use cases for NFC Wireless Charging in Android 15?
Some potential use cases for NFC Wireless Charging in Android 15 include charging styluses, as well as tracker tags and other small, low-power devices that don’t have enough space for traditional Qi wireless charging coils.
Emman has been writing technical and feature articles since 2010. Prior to this, he became one of the instructors at Asia Pacific College in 2008, and eventually landed a job as Business Analyst and Technical Writer at Integrated Open Source Solutions for almost 3 years.
