Wireless Charging organizations A4WP and PMA merge, become AirFuel Alliance

Wireless charging is a new tech trend that hasn’t taken off much in the last few years, but Samsung said at its Galaxy S6 and S6 edge announcement back in April that things are changing. Coffeehouses like Starbucks are starting to incorporate wireless charging mats in their respective coffeehouses across the US, leading some customers to question why they aren’t using wireless charging on a daily basis (not just at coffeehouses or restaurants, for example).

There was once a time when three wireless charging organizations existed: Wireless Power Consortium (WPC), The Alliance for Wireless Power (or A4WP), and Power Matters Alliance (PMA). As of this week, however, A4WP and PMA have merged to create AirFuel Alliance.

AirFuel Alliance is 195 companies strong, including such partnering companies as Starbucks, WiTricity, Duracell, AT&T, Flextronics, MediaTek, Intel, Samsung, and Qualcomm. AirFuel Alliance was created to help consumers better understand what wireless charging standards work for their respective devices. “AirFuel Alliance aims to unify the global consumer, always on the move with technology that shapes itself around mobility and convenience. Duracell Powermat has supported wireless charging for a number of years. We see firsthand how such a simple, intuitive technology satisfies a wide range of needs for our customers. AirFuel is an ideal descriptor for what this organization promises today and in the years to come,” said Duracell Powermat Business Development VP Mani Parmar.

While A4WP and PMA have merged, however, Wireless Power Consortium (or WPC) remains alone with its Qi wireless charging standard. There are now two wireless charging organizations, however, that remain, and Samsung is a member of not only the new AirFuel Alliance but also the Wireless Power Consortium. The Korean giant announced earlier this Spring that its in-built wireless charging technology was both PMA and WPC-compatible, meaning that these two prominent wireless charging standards would work for the Galaxy S6 and S6 edge. AirFuel Alliance has a lot of promise going forward, but it would be nice to see these wireless charging organizations consolidate even further – leading to one conglomerate organization, with one universal wireless charging standard in the industry. That would make it easier for customers to recognize the universal wireless charging standard instead of three companies (or, in this case, 195).

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