Qi and Ki CES News Shows that AI Wasn’t The Only “I” at CES 2025

CES is all about technological innovation. And with that in mind, WPC’s booth at CES didn’t disappoint. WPC’s booth buzzed with a constant stream of visitors experiencing the latest innovations in wireless power transfer, new wireless solutions that promised to change the way we live, work, and power our devices.

Besides demonstrating the latest wireless power innovations, there was a bit of celebration marking the milestones achieved with Qi2. In just its first year, over 1.5 billion devices are now Qi2 enabled, an incredible accomplishment in such a limited time.

But WPC isn’t stopping there. The momentum behind wireless power is building as evidenced by the innovations that WPC either announced or demonstrated at CES.

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Qi2 for Android

Maybe the biggest story addresses what consumers have been asking for since Qi2 was announced: Qi2 for Android. While we couldn’t show products in the WPC booth just yet, we were able to share quotes from Android giants, Samsung and Google, attesting to their commitment and intentions to launch Qi2 devices in 2025.?

In addition, WPC announced Qi2 Ready. Qi2 Ready devices include specially designed phones and accessories that are certified to deliver a fully compliant Qi2 experience when paired together – fast 15W charging power and magnetic attachment for perfect alignment.

Several days after CES, Samsung announced its Galaxy S25, a new Qi2 Ready smartphone.? At the same time, there are over 50 phone cases going through WPC’s certification testing with the Galaxy S25 and preparing to launch soon.

2025 will be a big year for Qi2 for Android.

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The Moving Coil

Consumers have spoken. Everyone wants wireless charging for smartphones in their vehicles. In fact, car shoppers look for. And guess what? The industry listened. In fact, based on the responses from visitors to the WPC booth, the moving coil in-car wireless phone charger might have been the coolest thing from CES.

Imagine you’re on the road. Phone lying on a wireless charger in your car, but the second you turn a corner or hit a speed bump, your phone slides off the sweet spot—charging slows to a crawl or stops altogether. It’s annoying enough to make you want to tape your phone to the dash.

Panasonic Automotive Systems decided to fix that and pioneered the technology that WPC developed into a standard for automotive, built-in phone charging. Panasonic created a demonstration where users could see how, as their phone moved, the charger’s magnetic coil continuously moved with it, thus maintaining absolute alignment between the phone’s coil and the charger’s. You really have to see it to believe it! People saw it, freaked out in a good way, and started asking, “When can I get one in my car?” Because it’s basically black magic for your phone battery.

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The Ki Cordless Kitchen

Fresh off IFA, Europe’s version of CES in September, where it won the Omdia Innovation Award for best technology at IFA 2024, the Ki Cordless Kitchen demonstration regaled visitors with how it will be part of the kitchen of the future.?

Imagine all your kitchen appliances that normally are powered by plugging into a wall outlet operating without cords and plugs and without batteries. Blenders, toasters, kettles, air fryers, waffle makers, and virtually any kitchen appliance that requires electricity, running cleanly without the mess and safety issues of power cords.

With a Ki-enabled appliance, all you do is place it on a Ki power spot – a transmitter built into an induction cooktop, a countertop induction unit or on a countertop with a Ki transmitter hidden underneath the countertop – and turn it on. Take it off the Ki power spot and it immediately shuts off power.? And the power spot amazingly stays cool to the touch.

It’s like placing your phone on a wireless charger, but with two very significant differences. First, unlike the phone charger, which charges a battery in your phone, the Ki transmitter powers the Ki appliance directly. There is no battery involved. Secondly, a Qi2 charger sends up to 15W of power to your phone. A Ki transmitter can send up to 2.2kW to an appliance– enough to power virtually any kitchen appliance you can think of.

You won’t have to leave the Ki Cordless Kitchen to your imagination for long, as the Ki standard was released in December 2024, and devices will begin going through certification on approximately March 1, 2025. Products will begin appearing on the market before the end of 2025.

Amazing Innovation in Design of Qi2 Products

It used to be that wireless chargers were typically simple slabs of plastic. Design innovation was limited to changing the color of the plastic. Not anymore. The WPC booth had a lineup of Qi2 devices that looked like they’d come out of some fancy design studio. From folding 3-in-1 chargers built for traveling to sleek, multidevice desktop chargers, nearly a dozen WPC members put on a virtual fashion show of wireless charging technology, and every device displayed is available at retail.

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The World is Going Wireless and Qi Is Leading the Charge

2025 is going to be a big year for wireless charging with more important announcements coming later this year. Follow WPC to keep up on the innovations.

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