Collaborative tech to let smartphones wirelessly charge their styluses via NFC

Smartphones don’t arrive with stylus pens very frequently. This is not necessarily because of the design issue, it’s largely because OEMs face issues with charging the stylus – they need to be in contact with the device to charge its battery. This problem could find a solution very soon – a new hope has been kindled by a memorandum of understanding singing between Universal Stylus Initiative (USI) and NFC Forum.

This collaboration plans to allow USI members to integrate NFC Forum’s Near Field Communication (NFC) Wireless Charging Specification (WLC) in their products. The WLC integration will permit USI stylus pens to be charged wirelessly with their mobile computing devices, smartphones, and NFC charging devices.

The charging standard allows charging speeds of up to one watt – so the digital pens will be powered at the rate of one watt. According to the official press statement, “WLC enables a single antenna in a NFC enabled device to manage both communications and charging.” This makes it easy and convenient to charge low-power IoT devices.

This means the technology can be equally useful in charging low-power devices including fitness trackers, smartwatches, and wireless earbuds to name a few. Per the statement, USI solution will open the possibility of having a stylus designed for multiple touch-enabled devices.