There are only a few more days to go before Samsung's March 14 Samsung Galaxy S4 event and we're still getting last minute rumors on what Samsung plans to offer on its flagship smartphone, the Samsung Galaxy S4. In the last few hours there have been rumors of a revolutionary 'Floating Touch and PHOLED display'*, now we're hearing that Samsung will be offering wireless charging capabilities out of the box on the Galaxy S4.
It seems that the two biggest players in the smartphone world are late to the party when it comes to wireless charging. Apple and Samsung both currently do not support wireless charging on the iPhone and Galaxy smartphones. Competitors like HTC, Nokia, and LG have all built and shipped smartphones with wireless charging capabilities out of the box. The smartphones all use the Qi wireless charging technology, which is quickly becoming the industry standard when it comes to offering wireless charging features to mobile devices.
According to Digitimes, Samsung will announce that it is adopting the Qi wireless charging technology for use in the company's flagship smartphone, the Samsung Galaxy S4. It is believed that Samsung might not offer embedded wireless charging, instead it will build the technology into back covers it will sell to consumers. This is very similar to how Palm enabled wireless charging in its Touchstone wireless charger. It sold separate back covers for the Palm Pre that would enable the smartphone to wirelessly charge using Palm's $70 Touchstone wireless charger.
The good news is that Samsung Galaxy S4 owners will have a choice in selecting their wireless charging stations. As long as the charging station supports Qi wireless charging, the Samsung Galaxy S4's back cover should work with most of the wireless chargers already available at different price-points on the market. Nokia, LG and many other companies currently offer wireless charging accessories that will work with Samsung's Galaxy S4 if the rumors are true.
We'll know all the details when Samsung announces the Galaxy S4 on March 14.
