Your Phone Could Soon be Charging Wirelessly

By the end of the year you could have your very own wireless charger, according to Gizmodo.

The technology, known formally as the Cota antenna, is being developed by Ossia and incorporates a small, glowing base station, a RF receiving chip and a charging case. The company brought its new technology to demo at this year’s International Consumer Electronics Show, where more than 150,000 people have convened to see the latest products from more than 3,600 companies.

In order to charge your phone using the wireless station, users will need to upgrade their phones to incorporate the built in RF receiving chip or they can opt to use the company’s larger, bulkier phone case. The chip and case serve as beacons for the station, which at present has a range of 10 feet.

That’s big enough for a single room, but don’t expect to be able to charge the whole neighborhood. With the current technology only one device can be charged at a time and can take four times as long to charge than it would with a cable.

Ossia is already working on ways of upgrading and expanding the wireless technology to be more user and device friendly. The company plans to develop a smaller RF chip to make it easier for smartphone makers to fit it into the device’s hardware. They also plan to build larger base stations that can cover the range of an entire home.

The Consumer Electronics Show runs from Jan. 6-9 in Las Vegas.