Android 15 will bring wireless charging support via NFC

Google is reportedly planning on adding wireless charging support via NFC with Android 15. Wireless charging is a handy feature and has often been seen on Android and iPhones for a long time now. Not to forget, when one mentions wireless charging, the Qi wireless charging standard often comes to mind.

Although, the Qi wireless charging standard is quite popular in smartphones, not much of smaller electronic gadgets have this feature. Well, there’s a reason for it. Unlike smartphones, small electronic gadgets don’t have enough space inside, making it tough to fit in a coil to adequately receive power. But, this is set to change soon as wireless charging via NFC might debut with the Android 15 update.

NFC Wireless Charging (WLC) support with Android 15 can be a game-changer

Notably, NFC Wireless Charging is still yet to make its way on many smaller gadgets despite its introduction a few years ago. One of the reasons behind this could be a lack of support from major platforms including Android. However, that might change with the Android 15 update as preparations are going on to add support for NFC Wireless Charging.

According to a recent code analysis report by Mishaal Rahman, Google might introduce NFC Wireless Charging (WLC) support for smaller devices with Android 15. This will eventually open up charging capabilities for smaller gadgets still incompatible with the Qi charging standard.

One key difference between WLC and NFC is the use of different-sized antennas. Unlike NFC, WLC features smaller antennas. That means it can be fit inside smaller gadgets including smartwatchs, earbuds, smart tags, and more. The best part about these antennas is that the same antenna also allows NFC data transfer, saving extra internal space.

NFC Wireless Charging can streamline smaller gadgets

As Google prepares to introduce NFC Wireless Charging with Android 15, smaller devices are the ones that will benefit from it. For reference, smart trackers are often too small to fit in a Qi coil but can feature the NFC Wireless Charging antenna instead. One might wonder what’s so special about these antennas. These antennas can be smaller than 1cm and often fit inside a flexible PCB making it easier to fit them in tiny devices.

Not to forget, the power transmission speed isn’t likely to beat the speed of Qi. But, it still could be super handy. With the new tech, you won’t have to rely on incredibly smaller batteries to enjoy using these tiny gadgets.

Google might introduce NFC Wireless Charging as an experimental feature in Android 15. However, if it turns out to be successful, we might see makers of smaller gadgets embracing the feature. No doubt, this tech has all the potential to revolutionize the future of small wearable gadgets.

Imagine the future where you can enjoy interacting with smaller devices without worrying much about draining batteries. Now that this wireless charging tech is in the works, it will be interesting to see what the future holds.