Although wireless charging has gotten a lot of attention recently, it has actually existed for quite some time. Probably the most familiar example is the electric toothbrush, which charges an internal battery without any metallic contact points. However, the WPC (Wireless Power Consortium) – Qi standard provides a level of functionality beyond the low-efficiency, low-power approach used in simple devices like the toothbrush. The typical electric toothbrush charges only at a few 10s of milliamps, less than 50% efficiency, and may take nearly a full day to charge a low capacity battery. This would be unacceptable for a general purpose application, especially at higher power levels as the low efficiency would generate a lot of heat. Other solutions have been developed for higher power levels but these are not compatible across manufacturers – requiring the charging pad or stand to be matched to a specific receiver device. While specific, proprietary forms of wireless power systems have existed for some time, the driving factor in the widespread use of wireless power is the development of a practical standard to allow interoperability between different products. The QI standard provides a true general-purpose solution – like other industry standards e.g. bluetooth, USB, wifi, etc. The WPC consists of members from all aspects of the industry – magnetics suppliers, silicon suppliers, OEMs, retailers – so it has all the representation to result in a widely adopted standard. New products have already been released from several manufacturers, and more are introduced to the market on a regular basis. There are already millions of Qi-compatible products on the market today.