NFC technology, which stands for short-range wireless technology, is found in nearly 40 billion devices around the world. It is a transparent technology that can be used for a large number of uses: from identification at an event, to paying with a card to opening a door. Due to the great importance that it was gaining, the NFC Forum was born with the aim of developing new specifications to modulate the NFC architecture towards new objectives. The new launch by the forum is the WLC technology, wireless charging specification. Allows Wirelessly charge small devices or other NFC charging devices with a speed of up to 1W.
WLC, the new NFC that will allow you to charge devices
On May 5, the Board of Directors of the NFC Forum, of which Apple is a part, announced through a statement the approval of the new specification of the technology called wlc. This technology will allow wireless charging of small devices (IoT) and accessories with batteries using a smartphone or other NFC charging device. That is, imagine being able to charge your AirPods from the back of your iPhone, or any other device compatible with this specification. According to the Forum:
This technology will improve the user experience for the two billion consumers and businesses who use smartphones and other NFC-enabled devices.
This specification had already been published last year. However, the verification and validation protocols are long, especially taking into account the impact that the arrival of this technology could have on the devices on foot. After one year of validation, the technology is ready and ready to be implemented in the market.
WLC enables an antenna on the device in order to manage both communications and load. In this way, they ensure from the NFC Forum, that it is easier to charge low-power IoT devices. Examples of this could be smart watches, headphones, stylus or other consumer devices.
It is important to note that this new charge via NFC it will require new hardware. In other words, it cannot be included as a software update on current NFC-equipped devices. Finally, make a comparison between the Qi and WLC wireless charging standard. In the case of Qi (used by Apple in the Watch and in the iPhone) it is capable of reaching a maximum power of 7.5W and even more in some Android devices. However, the WLC technology will reach 1W so the goal is smaller device loads.