True wireless charging at last! Microsoft introduces light beam charging method for smartphones

Innovation seems to be alive and well at Microsoft, whose Research arm appears to be working on a new mobile device charging project called AutoCharge. One of its goals is to create a truly seamless smartphone charging experience where you don't deal with cables and charging pads. Microsoft's prototype charging system uses a combination of image recognition and solar charging to automatically identify a smartphone on a desk and start firing charging photons at it. Black magic, people!

By Microsoft's word, the experimental prototype shows the light charger automatically identifies the smartphone in some 0.3 seconds, and proceeds to charge it almost as fast as existing wired chargers. Solar charging is a very unexpected solution for such an application, as both outdoor and indoor usage is unfeasible due to conditions such as the weak, scattered in-room lighting, or users carrying their smartphones in their pockets where no light can enter. Microsoft had to devise a method for indoor solar charging, making it work 24 hours per day. The ambitious task is accomplished by firing a straight beam of concentrated light with little scatter, which allows it to carry the necessary charge.