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Our Technology Adopted for Qi Standard—The Path to Global Standardization
In January 2025, Panasonic Automotive Systems’ proprietary moving coil technology was adopted as the basic technology for the global standard for wireless smartphone charging. Four employees contributed to this standardization.
Please tell us about the Qi standard.
Takayama: The Qi standard is a global standard for wireless charging of smartphones established by the Wireless Power Consortium (WPC). As of March 2025, 277 companies from the United States, Europe, China, South Korea, and around the world have joined the standard.
What are the features of our moving coil technology?
Takayama: Moving coil technology is our proprietary technology for in-vehicle smartphone chargers. It detects the coil on the smartphone side and automatically aligns the charging coil. This allows for high charging efficiency even inside a car, where vibration can cause a smartphone to shift positions. We are confident that this is the best innovation for in-vehicle chargers. In recent years, based on global user surveys, we have also developed models with improved charging efficiency so that smartphones with cases can also be fully charged.
What led to the adoption of moving coil technology in the Qi standard?
Takayama: Around the end of 2019, when I took charge of wireless chargers as the general manager of the Product Management Department, the industry as a whole was experiencing commoditization, and in particular, products were becoming simpler and cheaper. Our products have high charging performance thanks to our unique moving coil technology, but we were struggling because of the high price. We were confident that if people used our products, they would understand their advantages, so we were very frustrated. The most effective way we could come up with to achieve this goal was to have our technology adopted as a global standard, and we began working to have it adopted as a Qi standard in 2021.
In order to become part of the Qi standard, we negotiated with WPC and smartphone manufacturers, but at first they did not take us seriously and negotiations were difficult. We only promoted the advantages of the technology and did not gain their trust either as a company or as individuals. When we realized this, we actively communicated with the people in charge at each company to build relationships with them. Once we deepened our friendships with them to the point where we could talk about personal topics other than work, their responses changed visibly, and the negotiations went in the right direction.
We also conducted thorough technical PR efforts. We received a very positive response to the improved charging performance of the moving coil mechanism. Since it is common nowadays to aim for performance improvement through software, the approach of performance improvement through the mechanism of a moving coil seemed like a fresh approach to the WPC evaluation members.
What were your impressions from this activity?
Takayama: First of all, I was deeply moved by the fact that a Japanese company’s technology was adopted as a global standard. In the past, Japanese companies were involved in the formulation of standards, such as VHS and Betamax in videotape, but in recent years the amount of involvement has decreased considerably.
In this adoption of standards, tough negotiations continued with non-Japanese companies taking the lead. However, we continued to communicate our desire to expand user-friendly standards globally, and our actions led to a positive outcome as we focused first and foremost on how we could get them to become partners working toward a common goal.
For example, we now have a relationship with a company with whom it was initially difficult to even make an appointment for a meeting, but now we freely consult with each other. We also had the valuable experience of working with the industry’s top smartphone manufacturer to create specifications. There were many aspects that were informative to me, such as differences in thinking and the way this effort proceeded. I think it was also a big gain for us to truly see that our technology is fully acceptable at the level of being adopted as a global standard.
Zhang: This was my first experience in global standardization activities, and it took a lot of trial and error, but I feel that the active communication within the team and the contributions of the team members were a big support and led to the achievement of the standardization. With the cooperation of team members, we were able to gain understanding and support from within the company, which enabled us to proceed smoothly with our activities.
In addition, by coming into contact with engineers and management from other companies based around the world, I was greatly stimulated by their methods of working and ways of thinking. It was a valuable experience for me to overcome challenges in terms of technology and language in the midst ofdifferent cultures and it helped me grow as a person.
Okuda: Thanks to our highly specialized members and strong teamwork, we were able to immediately respond to WPC’s requests and persistently present proposals, ultimately leading to standardization. It was also a valuable experience to have technical conversations and joint verification with major smartphone manufacturers.
I realized that consensus of the entire standards body is necessary for the standard to be established, and that it is important to build a network of colleagues that transcends the boundaries of companies and organizations. We had to deal with harsh opinions in order to make improvements, and we had a lot of technical difficulties, but we were very happy that our proposal was finally adopted as a global standard.
Ohki: To achieve adoption as a standard, we had to take many actions, such as conducting standard tests, early escalation of development issues, and investigation of other companies’ situations and approaches to the issues. In order to deal with these issues, communication within and outside the company was extremely important, and I feel that this team is what made this possible. Within just a few years of joining the company, I had the opportunity to travel extensively across the U.S. and various European countries. I was both surprised and inspired by the environment where even young employees are trusted with significant responsibilities. Although I struggled to keep up with the rapidly evolving prototype standards, I found great fulfillment in those moments when I was able to identify and resolve challenges early on.
What are your thoughts for the future?
Zhang: As the next step, we would like to develop products compliant with the standard and return profits commensurate with the investment in our activities. Since the situation surrounding the Qi standard is constantly changing, we would like to leverage our technology in subsequent developments and promote its evolution. We should also leverage the experience and contacts we have gained through these activities in our in-house product development and efficiently expand into other standards activities.
Okuda: Smartphone manufacturers are already focusing on wireless charging, and the speed of product development is accelerating. We can use our experience in standardization to further collaborate with smartphone manufacturers and increase user value.
Ohki: We would like to efficiently utilize the know-how and development resources gained through the prototype development of the latest standard for future product development. Our experience in this standardization process can also be applied to standards development activities in other fields.
Takayama: Starting with this standardization, we would like to continue promoting global standardization involving other companies. By promoting standardization, we can improve the efficiency of development throughout the industry, reduce wasteful disposal of materials, and ultimately contribute to the environment.
The number of patents related to the Qi standard held by the Panasonic Group, led by our company, is the second largest in the world. I hope we can make further contributions to the industry with our technology to enhance user value by leveraging this advantage.
