Insiders have tipped the Samsung Galaxy S4 and the iPhone 5S as the bringers of wireless charging to the masses, with HTC also thought to be implementing wireless charging later this year.
The reports come from Digitimes' industry insiders who say that Samsung will adopt Qi wireless charging in the Galaxy S4 (it's not the first time that rumour has surfaced and we'll find out for sure next week).
Just as the January speculation proposed, it sounds as though wireless charging might be more of an added extra than a built-in S4 feature, with users having to buy replacement back covers and a charging pad before they do away with the wires.
Apple juice
Apple, meanwhile, is thought to be making its own in-house wireless charger that will only work with its own products.
That'll mess up plans for a global wireless charging standard (just as Apple did with the whole microUSB charger thing) - Samsung, Nokia, HTC, LG, Motorola and Sony are all members of the Wireless Power Consortium (WPC) which is likely to adopt a standard, possibly the Qi approach.
Of course, Digitimes is not the world's most reliable of sources, and we have no way of verifying its industry insiders so we wouldn't go putting your life savings on the fact that the Galaxy S4 and iPhone 5S will come sans wires.
But wireless charging has been waiting in the wings for some years, with the likes of Powermat and Nokia leading the good if slightly inconvenient fight - plus the likes of LG have more recently joined the race. Let's face it, it's about time it went mainstream.
