Ikea has unveiled plans to include phone charging devices into their furniture. In a statement they said ‘By adding wireless charging to home and office furniture, we minimise the amount of separate chargers needed’. The new range include lamps, bedside tables and coffee tables as well as seperate charging pads. Environmentalists have raised concerns over the use of the inbuilt electronics when it comes to disposal. Ikea has said that they are “easy to fraction at end of life”. The Home Smart range will go on sale in April.
bbc.co.uk reports:
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Ikea has used the wireless charging standard QI, which is also supported by Samsung in its latest handset, the S6. Environmental group Friends of the Earth urged caution over the recyclability of such products.
The Swedish furniture firm will sell charging covers for incompatible iPhone and Samsung models. There are currently more than 80 QI-compatible handsets and 15 QI-enabled cars on the market according to QI’s backers the Wireless Power Consortium, an industry body whose members includes Belkin, Motorola, Panasonic and Sony.
Multiple choice- However it is not the only charging standard in development. The S6 will also be compatible with PMA, a rival wireless charger solution provided by the Power Matters Alliance, whose members include Starbucks, Duracell Powermat, Huawei and Lenovo.
At the Consumer Electronics Show in January a firm called Energous demonstrated WattUp, a non-inductive system which it claims can charge gadgets that lie in a 9m (30ft) radius around the charger.
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