Samsung hints that Galaxy S6 could support multiple wireless charging standards

One “special function” of the Galaxy S6 could be wireless charging that works with any of the current standards.

In a new post on its Samsung Tomorrow blog, the maker of the Galaxy series extols the virtues of wireless charging and promises that 2015 will be a “landmark year” for the technology. This sudden interest in wireless charging is curious, given that Samsung hasn’t really promoted it so far – while competitors like LG or Motorola have shipped devices with built-in wireless charging, Galaxy S and Note phones have lacked this feature out of the box. Samsung users can buy replacement covers fitted with wireless charging coils, but that’s obviously not ideal.

Samsung is now signaling that its 2015 flagships will not only feature wireless charging out of the box, but they will be compatible with multiple standards.

“Last year, components that support multiple standards on a single chip were released. Given that it usually takes around 6 to12 months to integrate new components and put them on the market, it is expected that several of these products will be available to consumers this year”

The company doesn’t spell it out, but given the timing of the post, the above is a strong indication that the Galaxy S6 will be among the first devices with multiple standard compatibility. In fact, this may be the “special function” that Samsung’s head of investors relations Robert Yi hinted at last month.

The multi-standard wireless solution that Samsung mentioned could be thanks to Broadcom – back in May 2014, the chipmaker announced a charging control chip that works with the three main standards, A4WP, PMA, and WPC.

“Samsung will accelerate to democratize this wireless charging technology with compelling smartphones. With our upcoming Galaxy smartphones, users will be able to enter a new wireless world like never before.”

If our assumption is correct, users of the Galaxy S6 and S6 Edge will be able to drop their device on just about any charging surface without worrying about the technology inside. That would be a great user-facing feature, and a great step forward for wireless charging technology, which has been so far held back by fragmentation.

For more about the state of wireless charging, check out our recent look at the technology.