Zens announces 16 coil Liberty Qi charger for more flexible wireless charging

Zens has announced a new wireless charger, giving users "complete freedom of placement" with a new wireless charging strategy.

Traditionally, most charging pads have a fairly small "sweet spot" where a device can be placed for wireless charging. Zens hopes to solve this problem with their new Zens Liberty wireless charger. By overlapping the 16 charging coils, Zens has expanded the active charging area considerably. Two compatible devices can be placed anywhere on the Zens Liberty charging pad to begin wirelessly charging.

The Zens Liberty comes with a 45W universal power adapter that features a USB-C connection and comes with separate plugs for the U.S., UK, and EU. A USB port is placed on the top of the charging pad, with the company claiming that reasoning behind the placement is part of a "new, world's first product introduction that will follow soon."

The Zens Liberty dual-wireless charger comes in two different varieties, the Kvadrat and the Glass.

The Kvadrat edition features a 90% worsted wool surface known as "Atlas." Atlas was created by Kvadrat in cooperation with Danish designer Margrethe Odgaard and boasts a unique pattern due to the nature of the material.

The Glass edition is a limited run that features a see-through glass surface. The 16 charging coils are visible, giving users a sneak peek into what makes their wireless chargers work.

The Zens Liberty Kvadrat edition will be $139.99 upon release, and the Glass edition will ship for $179.99. Both products will be available in November 2019.

We've taken a look at a five-coil charger in the past by Courant Catch, and recently learned about the OtterSpot, a portable, stackable, Qi-Certified charger from OtterBox.

17 Comments

CloudTalkin 916 comments · 5 Years

About 5 years ago

I wonder if they settled on 16 coils through a process of elimination. Started with 22 coils like Apple was rumored to use in AirPower (RIP), and eliminated coils until there was an acceptable level of signal interference and heat generation. Good on them if they got it to work. It's still a solution in search of a problem imo. Random placement could be considered a minor convenience, but it ain't a $140-$180 convenience.

MustSeeUHDTV 308 comments · 7 Years

If it does not support Apple Watch, I would not even consider it.

wonkothesane 1735 comments · 12 Years

I am wondering exactly what the challenge was where Apple decided to pull out.

maestro64 5029 comments · 19 Years

CloudTalkin said:

I wonder if they settled on 16 coils through a process of elimination. Started with 22 coils like Apple was rumored to use in AirPower (RIP), and eliminated coils until there was an acceptable level of signal interference and heat generation. Good on them if they got it to work. It's still a solution in search of a problem imo. Random placement could be considered a minor convenience, but it ain't a $140-$180 convenience.

You are assuming it works, it probably works to some level, but it probably has issue which a company like this thinks is good enough. Apple does not have a history of throwing in the towel and the fact they did in this case probably means there are some issue Apple was not willing to compromise on. Think about it this way, Apple had a limited number of product which they had to make it work with and the control the design on all those items and they gave up. The complexity of products the company has to deal with is much higher so the level of possible issue is also much higher. The question is how far outside the ideal conditions does the charging start having problems.

Notsofast 450 comments · 8 Years

wonkothesane said:

I am wondering exactly what the challenge was where Apple decided to pull out.

Three devices, instead of two. Different charge rates, etc. This device doesn't take on those challenges. We also don't know about what level of interference and heat this manufacturer found acceptable.