Broadcom has announced BCM59350, a high performance wireless charging power management unit (PMU) with support for all three leading standards organizations including the Alliance for Wireless Power (A4WP), Power Matters Alliance (PMA) and Wireless Power Consortium (WPC). This has a unique Broadcom design that enables multiple devices with different power requirements such as tablets, smartphones or a smartwatch charge at the same time, without the trouble of accurate positioning or alignment.
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TG33UtM0wQY
Wireless charging is one of the most required feature in smartphones these days and the demand for wireless charging is expected to increase in coming years. With this new multi-standard SoC, it would easy for OEMs to integrate wireless charging in smartphones. The A4WP unveiled Rezence as its brand name for its magnetic resonance charging technology last year. It is backed by hundreds of consumer device makers and chip companies including Broadcom.
Highlights of Broadcom BCM59350 multi-standard wireless charging SoC
- Efficient – Up to 88 percent AC to DC efficiency
- High Performance – Supports up to 7.5W for faster charge time than standard USB and wall chargers
- Boost Mode – Broadcom ensures charging performance with 50 percent less voltage
- Support for automatic selection between standards and single mode operation
- NFC Coexistence – Broadcom’s wireless charging design ensures acceptable NFC performance
- Implementation Flexibility – Can be designed in a smartphone motherboard or battery cover
- Small PCB Footprint – Broadcom’s design supports multi-standards in the same size as a single standard solution
- Low Cost – Broadcom’s solution has a minimum bill of materials cost with no external active components, excluding WICED Smart
The Broadcom BCM59350 wireless charging smartphone power management unit is now in sampling stage with select OEMs. It is not clear when we can expect smartphones with this new wireless charging chipset.