IKEA is introducing a new line of furniture that will charge your smartphone and tablet for you.
Dubbed IKEA Wireless, the line of bedside tables, lamps and desks have embedded charging areas that support the Qi wireless charging standard. Menno Treffers of the Wireless Power Consortium, which promotes Qi, calls the new IKEA collection “innovative, stylish and useful” and the new furniture line will make “wireless charging affordable and simple for consumers.” Not to mention getting rid of that unsightly cable tangle.
The Qi-compatible charging pad is indicated by a subtle white cross on flat surfaces of the new furniture.
The new IKEA line is expected to be available in Europe and North America this April first, then globally later. Exact prices haven’t been released, but several reports have them starting at roughly $50.
WPC calls Qi “the leading wireless charging standard” and is showcasing Qi-enabled products at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona. Because it supports Qi, the IKEA Wireless line should directly support 80 models of smartphones, including the Google Nexus 5 and 6 and the Samsung Galaxy S6. IKEA also says it will sell individual charging pads (if you don’t want to lose that legacy bedside table). 
The WPC Qi standard is one of two competing standards for wirelessly charging mobile devices. The other, from the Power Matters Alliance, is used by Starbucks, among others, for its wireless charging stations.
