Two of the Competing Wireless Charging Standards Agree to Join Forces

The Alliance For Wireless Power and the Power Matters Alliance — backers of two of the competing standards efforts in wireless charging — said Tuesday that they would join together.

Under their agreement, the Power Matters Alliance will adopt the A4WP’s Rezence specification for resonant charging, while the A4WP will adopt the Power Matters Alliance’s approach for inductive charging.

“It’s really good to see the wireless charging stuff come together,” Broadcom CEO Scott McGregor told Re/code in an interview Tuesday. “It makes a lot of sense for consumers.”

McGregor noted that wireless charging will be key to allowing smaller wearables that don’t need to make extra space for, say, a Micro-USB port for charging.

Broadcom was among the A4WP board members that voted unanimously for the agreement, a group that includes Intel, Qualcomm and Samsung, while PMA backers include Starbucks, Procter & Gamble and Powermat Technologies.

The other major charging group, the Wireless Power Consortium, backs a standard called Qi that has the lion’s share of devices already on the market with built-in charging, including devices from Nokia and LG.

Broadcom co-founder Henry Samueli had predicted that the wireless charging standards battle would give way to peace this year.

This article originally appeared on Recode.net.

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