Towers that charge smartphones
Smartphones are limited by how long their batteries can hold power. It is for that reason that smartphone markers have been trying hard to improve on charging mechanisms for their products.
It is possible today to wirelessly charge an iPhone 12 by simply stacking it on top of a Samsung Galaxy S21.
And the opposite is also true. Magical as that may sound, this only works if one of the phones has more battery juice than the other.
The Chinese Xiaomi has a fully working prototype of a technology it is calling Mi Air Charge. This is a huge indoor charging base the size of a PC server with 144 antennas. Instead of sending signals, the base station transmits power to charge smartphones within its surroundings.
The technology can charge smartphones outside the building and even those smartphones in people’s pockets. Imagine for a moment, your smartphone annoyingly nagging for battery power one moment and suddenly going quiet after a remote infusion of battery juice, right in your pocket.
The base station charges phones at 5 Watts rate. By all means that is very slow charging process as wired methods can provide as much as 65W rate these days. But who cares? We are talking of a constant supply of battery power here effortlessly.
Xiaomi is probably not the first to go this route, others have before and this methods has had its problems. Wireless transfer of power has been known to cause health hazards to people. It is also known fact that power does not easily permeate through some walls.
According to ExtremeTech, Xiaomi has worked around all these huddles with it Mi Air Charge system.
Xiaomi’s charging magic works in somewhat similar way 5G transmits signals; through an array of antennas.
While Mi Air Charge is limited to buildings and its environs; I mean you have to be at the office or home equipped with the charging base station to enjoy the service, it is surely a precursor for good things to come.
Extrapolate the Mi Air Charge technology to towers for mobile phone providers and you have base stations that do not only transmit phone and internet signals but power as well.
When that day arrives, you’ll need not to charge your smartphone at all. All you will need is a tower close by, and are they not ubiquitous?
For now this might sound like some beautiful science fiction. It may not happen in my life time. In that day, when your grandchildren will start to wonder how we ever survived without it, please remember to remind them that I prophesied it.
