Duracell Powermat WiCC could bring wireless charging to all smartphones
Duracell has a solution for bringing wireless power to mobile devices and it's wafer-thin and credit card-shaped
Wireless charging has been a recurrent theme in the tech world for quite some time – and while we’ve seen wireless charging solutions from the likes of Powermat and Case-mate, the wireless charging revolution has failed to take off and go truly mainstream. Duracell may have hit the nail on the head, though, with its Powermat WiCC charging card.
Spotted by Engadget, the Powermat WiCC – which stands for Wireless Charging Card – is a wafer-thin slice of charging tech that slips in between your phone’s battery and back panel. Assuming you can get at the battery (sorry, iPhone users), the WiCC will play nice with Duracell’s Powermat charging mats for a wire-free charging experience.
As it stands, wireless charging usually comes by way of an ugly charging pad, complete with an ugly case. In this instance, Duracell’s wireless charging solution is neat and compact and virtually intrusion-free.
This development in wireless power tech suggests the days of fumbling for power adaptors and tripping over tangled leads could soon be numbered. But there are a few hurdles to overcome before we’re all charging our mobiles with Duracell’s nifty wireless solution.
Its future is contingent on cooperation from smartphone manufacturers, so in order for the tech to be fully implemented into our mobile experience, devices are going to need to have six electrical connectors added to their battery compartments – two for power, two for data and two for NFC, as the WiCC also doubles up as an NFC antenna.
It’s this reliance on the cooperation of other manufacturers that could put a spanner in the works for Duracell’s answer to wireless charging.
We’re all for a future where portable gadgets are recharged wirelessly, desk space is freed up and we no longer have to grapple with tangled, rage-inducing wires. And while the Powermat WiCC is a step in the right direction towards making inductive wireless charging more mainstream, we won’t be getting our hopes up about this revolutionary tech just yet.
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Dan Grabham
Editor-in-Chief 
