TAIPEI, Taiwan — The Swedish icon, furniture giant Ikea has unveiled a range of furniture fitted with wireless charging spots for mobile devices at Mobile World Congress (MWC) 2015. The Home Smart range will initially include lamps, bedside tables and a coffee table as well as individual charging pads for any surface, according to the company.
The wireless charging stations, designed by the Wireless Power Consortium, will be integrated into pieces like desks, tables and lamps using a technology standard called Qi Wireless. The company will also sell an add-on kit that allows people to add wireless charging to existing furniture, whereas buying a wireless-charging-integrated product will cost $33 (NT$1,033) extra, based on the Wall Street Journal.
“Through research and home visits, we know that people hate cable mess,” said Jeanette Skjelmose, a Corporate Manager at Ikea. “They worry about not finding the charger and running out of power. Our new innovative solutions, which integrate wireless charging into home furnishings, will make life at home simpler.” In other words, no more cable mess in the future even before the Type-C has been widely accepted.
However, it only supports limited handsets, for example, Samsung Galaxy, Google Nexus 6 or one a few other phones, Apple fans beware: it doesn't work with the iPhone series.
