Samsung Invests $4 Million into PowerbyProxi, a New Wireless Charging Standard

Wireless charging was supposed to change the way we charged our phones, and in a way would revolutionize the phone industry by making it easier than ever to charge our devices in general.  Samsung launched the Galaxy S4 with the option to purchase a wireless charging mat, and we even sell a kit for it that comes with the wireless charger and a replacement back that supports the Qi wireless charging standard.  This standard is the same one that Google used when it build wireless charging in to the Nexus 4, and later the 2013 Nexus 7.  Samsung and Google and continuing to support the Qi wireless standard with new devices, and Samsung will have even more wireless charging accessories for the Galaxy Note 3 when they become available.  Still all these devices do not ship with a wireless charger, and that’s likely the biggest hurdle.  So why with wireless charging products on the market is Samsung investing in new wireless charging standards?  Your best guess is as good as ours, but we’ve got a couple hints where to look and what we might find in the future.

Starting things off, Venture Beat has found that Samsung is investing $4 million into PowerbyProxi, a new company that is receiving funding from many sources outside of Samsung’s influence.  This ensures that Samsung’s investment doesn’t guarantee exclusivity, but rather keeps hand in hand with PowerbyProxi’s goal of interoperability.  To prove this PowerbyProxi already has products that both support their new proprietary wireless charging standard, but also support multiple Qi wireless standards, showing that they can make a product that works with most wireless charging products out there.  What’s more is if you visit PowerbyProxi’s website, you’ll find that their wireless charging standard does much more than require you to place your phone on a little mat to be charged; they also make many industrial solutions that work in wet or dirty, and even while moving.  This all translates into many possibilities for a company like Samsung and their future products, including some truly awesome possibilities for ruggedized devices like the Galaxy S4 Active.

There’s also possibilities of using this technology inside the device for other components.  We received a leak from inside Oppo about an interchangeable camera module in late August, and while it wasn’t for the Oppo N1 like we originally thought, the options provided with such a module are nearly endless.  These types of things could be powered by PowerbyProxi’s sensors, making it an easy snap in, snap off type of module.  I’m sure I could dream up possibilities for this stuff for days, but at this point we have nothing more than the obvious types of products that’ll come out of this.  Remember too that Samsung is a giant electronics company, with divisions for every type of electronic device you can think of.  You better bet they’ll be coming up with new ways of using this technology in non-mobile products, and very likely in a couple of years just like the NFC Oven from LG, we’ll likely see wireless powered appliances and devices from Samsung and other major OEMs out there.