The wireless power market is gradually gaining awareness, popularity, interest, and adoption. While smartphones, electric toothbrushes, and smartwatches are currently the top three applications to adopt wireless power, WAWT  through its comprehensive research on the wireless power market witnesses an increase in focus and development of wireless power solutions toward a wide profile of applications across automotive, consumer, defense, industrial, infrastructure, IoT, medical, retail, telecom, and other sectors.

As per WAWT’s ‘Wireless Power Intelligence Service’, from more than 700 million wireless power receiver and transmitter units shipped just in the year 2022, the global wireless power market is expected to cumulatively ship around 10 billion units of wireless power receivers and transmitters in the next five years. This shows the potential size of the emerging wireless power market, considering growth in adoption across a wide range of application markets, and the advancement of existing technology solutions, with the development and emergence of new wireless power technology type solutions.

The wireless power technology/solution type share is also expected to grow beyond low-frequency induction-based solutions (dominated by WPC’s Qi-based inductive solution). The varying needs/use cases of different applications would create an opportunity for the adoption of a wide range of existing or new wireless power solution types developed using either low or high or ultra-high frequency; induction or resonance; low or high-power class; for near, mid, or far-field distance; tightly or loosely or uncoupled; or hybrid frequency-based wireless power solutions.

As the market moves from no adoption or early adoption, each wireless power solution provider needs to strengthen their offerings beyond the marketing and promotion stage, from the concepts and prototypes development stage to embedding and deployment of wireless power solutions into end products ‘ready for deployment’. This is where WAWT foresees an even bigger challenge and bottleneck for many wireless power technology providers as most wireless power technology companies still do not possess a scalable level of engineering and production capabilities all under one roof. The next vital step from them would be to strengthen their existing engineering and manufacturing capabilities. This is either possible through a high level of investments, large deployment of manpower (dealer/distributors) across regions, and other resources by each company unless one partner collaborates and create synergies.

The recent timely announcement of a partnership between Powercast and Powermat tries to synergistically addresses this challenge by increasing focus not only on the next stage of market development i.e., by integrating and strengthening their engineering and production capabilities, with their respective complimenting wireless power technologies (Powercast with its low power RF-based solution across longer distance; and Powermat with its relatively high power Inductive and/or Resonance based solution across shorter distance), but by also creating a much appropriate ‘One Stop-Wireless Power Shop’ to meet the wireless power needs of their customers.

WAWT believes that for the wireless power market to attain maturity and mainstream status it needs to consolidate to strengthen its offerings. WAWT is of the view that wireless power solution providers need to be stronger across functions – not only in just marketing or technology or design or engineering or manufacturing but essentially in all functions, to get to the next critical stage of development. So creating a ‘One-Stop Solution Shop’ such as Powercast and Powermat would possibly boost the adoption, integration as well as deployment of wireless power solutions across a wide profile of devices.

Another related recent example of such a level of partnership and collaboration was set by NuCurrent, Amphenol, and NXP Semiconductors towards the creation of WPC’s Qi2-based inductive wireless power solution for smartphone applications.

Earlier in the year, we had Renesas Electronics Corporation, a premier supplier of advanced semiconductor solutions acquired Panthronics AG, a fabless semiconductor company specialising in high-performance wireless products with a focus on Near-Field Communication (NFC) technology, be it NFC Communications as well as NFC Wireless Charging, providing customers with turnkey NFC solutions.

To summarise, WAWT sees the wireless power market on the right path towards attaining maturity through collaboration, partnership, and sooner by some levels of merger and acquisition (M&A).

For a detailed version of this market analysis and a wider understanding of the dynamics of the wireless power market, please be free to contact our subject matter expert, Dinesh Kithany, Founder and Chief Analyst of Wired and Wireless Technology (WAWT) at [email protected] or write to us at WAWT™. And don’t forget to follow us on LinkedIn at Dinesh Kithany and WAWT for regular updates, news, and analysis on the wireless power and power supply market.

Wired and Wireless Technology (WAWT)™ is the leading and most trustworthy strategic technology analyst and consulting firm focusing on the wireless power and power supply industry.