How magnetic resonance, RF domes, lasers and Qi2 are quietly rewiring the world’s relationship with electricity.

On a rainy Tuesday morning in Seoul, a software engineer walks into his apartment, drops his phone and earbuds onto the kitchen counter and never reaches for a cable. The stone surface under his coffee mug is a smart slab threaded with wireless coils that quietly top up every compatible device in reach. A low power RF power dome keeps a network of sensors alive, while a quadcopter on the balcony perches on a landing pad, sipping power from a narrow infrared beam. It is not a sci fi set piece so much as a preview of where wireless power transfer is heading as lab work collides with mass market standards like Qi2 and ambitious experiments in radio and laser beaming.

For more than a decade, wireless power has mostly meant slow, finicky phone chargers that demand near perfect alignment. Those familiar pucks use simple inductive coupling, with tightly wound coils in the pad and device exchanging energy over distances measured in millimeters. That has been good enough for nightstands and office desks, but nowhere near the long promised vision of power like Wi Fi, available almost anywhere in a room. That picture is now changing as three very different approaches mature at once: magnetic resonance coupling, radio frequency power domes and laser based transmission, while ultrasonic, infrared and Qi2 push the technology into everyday life. AirFuel Alliance

MAGNETIC RESONANCE: SMART SURFACES COME TO LIFE

Magnetic resonance is the quiet workhorse that will underpin the first generation of truly useful smart surfaces. Instead of relying on tight coil to coil coupling, resonant systems tune both transmitter and receiver to the same frequency so that energy rings between them more freely. In practice, that means you can lift a phone several centimeters off a pad, slide it around or charge several gadgets at once without a dramatic efficiency penalty. Industry groups like the AirFuel Alliance describe charging over heights of up to five centimeters and across surfaces that can support multiple devices simultaneously at speeds that feel close to wired charging. AirFuel Alliance+2AirFuel Alliance

That extra freedom makes it realistic to embed resonant systems into countertops, conference tables and car dashboards. Recent demos show multi device counters where firmware dynamically meters power between phones, wearables, handheld scanners and point of sale terminals, making sure each device gets what it needs without overheating or wasting energy. Behind the scenes, standardized communication channels between coil and device allow the surface to recognize what has been set down, query its state of charge and adjust the waveform accordingly. In factories and airports, the same idea keeps autonomous robots, scanners and kiosks topped up whenever they pause on a resonant zone, reducing the need for bulky batteries and deep discharge cycles. AirFuel Alliance

RF POWER DOMES: ENERGY AS A SERVICE IN THE AIR

The second front in the new wireless power race operates at much higher frequencies. Radio frequency and microwave systems use phased arrays of antennas to shape and steer beams of energy through the air, forming what engineers sometimes call a power dome. Instead of resting on a pad, compatible devices equipped with rectifying antennas, or rectennas, can harvest energy as long as they are within the focus of that dome. Researchers and companies have demonstrated watt level RF links over several meters for low power electronics, and early deployments in retail and smart buildings are targeting ultra low power devices first, from electronic shelf labels to occupancy sensors. atmosic.com+2arXiv+2

The same beamforming tricks that let five G base stations track your phone as you move through a city block show up here too. Phased arrays can nudge the peak power point around obstacles, flatten the beam to cover a tabletop or carve out exclusion zones where no energy is sent in order to stay within safety guidelines. Controllers constantly measure reflections and adjust phase and amplitude on the fly, treating power like a steerable spotlight rather than a static broadcast. In logistics hubs and warehouses, batteryless tags tracking pallets and cages can harvest enough power to wake up periodically, report their position and fall back asleep, while farms dotted with soil moisture sensors rely on RF power instead of replaceable coin cells. radioeng.cz

LASER POWER: BEAMING ELECTRICITY KILOMETERS AWAY

If RF domes stretch wireless power across rooms and warehouses, laser power transmission pushes it into the kilometer regime. In September 2025, NTT and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries in Japan reported that they had beamed a kilowatt class laser over one kilometer of turbulent air and recovered roughly one hundred and fifty two watts at the receiver, a record efficiency for that kind of optical power link using a silicon photoelectric converter. Nasdaq+3Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd.+3Business Wire The runway test setup, packed with optics and cooling hardware, looked nothing like a phone charger, but it signaled that practical long distance power beaming no longer belongs only in concept art of giant solar satellites.

Laser systems trade some efficiency and simplicity for extreme reach and precision. A well designed optical link can deliver meaningful power to a drone circling hundreds of meters away or to a receiver array on a remote ridge that would be too expensive to reach with a cable. Power beaming specialists are targeting defense, infrastructure and disaster response first. Portable systems could keep surveillance drones aloft for hours, feed emergency communication towers after hurricanes or power field hospitals and command posts when local grids are ruined by wildfires and earthquakes. Longer term, space agencies and startups are revisiting plans for solar power satellites that convert sunlight to beams and send it to vast rectenna farms on the ground. Energy Institute

ULTRASONIC AND INFRARED: POWERING THE INVISIBLE

Running parallel to these high power experiments is a quieter revolution in medical and low power embedded systems. Ultrasonic wireless power transfer uses focused acoustic waves instead of electromagnetic fields and is being tuned for implanted devices and wearables that live under the skin. Because ultrasound travels well through soft tissue and can be tightly focused, researchers have demonstrated milliwatt level links to tiny sensors and stimulators without wires, raising the prospect of pacemaker like implants that never need a battery replacement surgery. Reviews of next generation implanted electronics point to wireless, batteryless power links as a critical ingredient for safer, smaller and longer lasting medical devices. PMC+2ResearchGate

Infrared power transfer is emerging as a bridge between consumer and industrial use cases. Eye safe infrared beams from ceiling mounted transmitters can push tens of watts to small receivers clipped to devices or built into sensors. Indoor prototypes have shown that you can walk around a room with a gadget that stays topped up as long as it sees at least one transmitter, much like a device maintaining line of sight to a security camera. For now, such systems remain early stage and tightly regulated, but they hint at rooms where power and data share the same invisible optical fabric and where devices quietly refuel whenever they pass through a beam. Energy Institute

QI2: WIRELESS POWER GOES MAINSTREAM

All of this exotic research might feel distant if not for what is happening at the lowest end of the power spectrum, in the smartphone in your hand. The Qi standard that quietly runs most of today’s wireless phone chargers is in the middle of its own upgrade cycle. The Qi2 specification, built around a magnetic power profile that borrows Apple’s MagSafe alignment trick, brings first class magnetic snap on charging to the universal ecosystem. It standardizes fifteen watt wireless charging with magnets ensuring that coils line up correctly, cutting the real world efficiency losses that come from sloppy placement and allowing slimmer, cooler chargers. Anker+2WIRED

Qi2 is also the first taste of something bigger for many manufacturers. Because the magnets and coil geometries are standardized, accessory makers no longer have to reverse engineer proprietary ecosystems to ship snap on wallets, stands, power banks and in car mounts. Android vendors see Qi2 as a way to close the experience gap on magnetic charging without ceding control of their brands. Major phone launches in 2025 appeared with native Qi2 support and their own magnetic accessory lines, pushing the technology from niche to default in a single product cycle and making magnetic charging feel like a baseline feature rather than a luxury extra. TechRadar+3Android Central+3Android Central+3

EMBEDDED CHARGING: FURNITURE, CARS AND CITIES

Beyond phones, consumer electronics companies are weaving wireless power into the fabric of homes and offices. Furniture makers are experimenting with kitchen islands and coffee tables that hide resonant coils just beneath wood, stone or composite surfaces, so laptops, tablets and earbuds begin charging automatically as soon as they are set down. In some concept kitchens, even small appliances can draw a modest amount of power through the countertop, cutting down on trailing cords and visual clutter while manufacturers learn how much power can safely flow through common materials.

Office designers imagine meeting rooms where the center of the table doubles as an always on charging zone for shared devices. Instead of hunting for outlets, participants simply drop their phones, tablets or conference room remotes into the active area. Under the floor, RF beacons and low power resonant pads could keep occupancy sensors, air quality monitors and badge readers running indefinitely without ever changing a battery, turning building infrastructure into a living network of sip powered electronics. In cars, dashboards and center consoles are being redesigned around Qi2 and resonance capable cradles, trading cable filled cubbies for drop and drive convenience and experimenting with higher power pads for electric taxis and buses. AirFuel Alliance+2AirFuel Alliance

SAFETY, REGULATION AND THE COST OF CONVENIENCE

For all the excitement, the wireless power future is not guaranteed to arrive smoothly. Every one of these technologies walks a tightrope of safety, regulation and public perception. RF and microwave systems must obey strict exposure limits, so engineers designing power domes have to prove that energy levels at human height are well within guidelines and that beams can be shut down or reshaped instantly if something unexpected enters the field. Laser systems need multiple layers of failsafes to kill the beam if a bird, drone, aircraft or curious human crosses its path, and to ensure that receivers cannot be misaligned in ways that concentrate dangerous intensity in the wrong place. radioeng.cz+2Energy Institute

Even in the familiar world of phone chargers, safety and interference remain contentious issues. Poorly designed knockoff pads can overheat, interfere with nearby electronics or fail to regulate foreign object detection properly, prompting industry groups and regulators to tighten certification programs and test regimes. As more power moves through the air, insurers, building code officials and grid operators are taking a far closer interest in how and where wireless systems are deployed. Environmental advocates are watching how real world efficiencies stack up once millions of resonant surfaces and RF domes are humming along, wary that convenience might quietly erode hard won gains in energy efficiency. AirFuel Alliance

CLOSING THOUGHTS AND LOOKING FORWARD

What is clear is that the battle lines for this next wave of wireless power are already drawn. On one side are near field, high efficiency approaches embodied in magnetic resonance and Qi2, optimized for desks, cars and countertops. On the other are far field systems based on RF and lasers that chase drones, satellites, remote outposts and disaster zones. Bridging them are niche but important techniques like ultrasonic and infrared power transfer, threading energy into bodies and through shared spaces in ways that wired systems could never manage. Over the next few years, the most successful deployments will be the ones that treat wireless power not as a magic trick but as a carefully engineered part of the broader energy system, paired with smart controls, clear safety margins and honest accounting of losses and gains. The cord will not disappear overnight, but if today’s experiments in resonant surfaces, power domes and kilometer scale beams continue to mature, the simple act of plugging in may soon start to feel as old fashioned as dialing up the internet over a phone line.

References

AirFuel Alliance – “Magnetic Resonance Charging Standard For Multi-Device Charging” – https://airfuel.org/airfuel-resonant/ AirFuel Alliance+2AirFuel Alliance

Energy Institute New Energy World – “Kilometre-long laser beam achieves highest-ever power transmission efficiency” – https://knowledge.energyinst.org/new-energy-world/article?id=139870 Energy Institute

Wired – “What Is Qi2? The Wireless Charging Standard Goes Magnetic” – https://www.wired.com/story/what-is-qi2-wireless-charging/ WIRED

Powercast – “Retail Giants Abandon Battery-Powered ESLs—Wireless Power Unlocks Profitability and Scale” – https://www.powercastco.com/blog/retail-giants-abandon-battery-powered-esls-wireless-power-unlocks-profitability-and-scale powercastco.com

ScienceDirect – “Recent advances in self-powered implantable medical devices” – https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S3050913025000877 ScienceDirect

Serge Boudreaux – AI Hardware Technologies
Montreal, Quebec

Peter Jonathan Wilcheck – Co-Editor
Miami, Florida