Sony to introduce one hour wireless phone charging?

The next Xperia smartphone could be charged in less than an hour.

Sony has developed a new charging pad that is capable of charging phones at twice the rate of current chargers, reports Japanese financial paper Nikkei.

According to the paper, the technology could make it to market by late 2014. That could be just in time for the next generation of Xperia smartphones.

The charger reportedly uses 10–15 watts of electricity to charge devices wirelessly. That is twice the rate of current wired chargers. At that rate, it is theoretically possible to charge a smartphone in less than an hour.

Nikkei reported on the technology as the specifications were being finalised by the Wireless Power Consortium. That means it won't just be Sony smartphones that could benefit from the technology.

The technology is expected to be compatible with the next generation of Qi-compatible chargers and smartphones.

According to reports, Japanese semiconductor company Rohm has developed a control chip that will prevent smartphones from bursting into flames when being charged at that rate.

Qualcomm's Qi technology is the same that will be used to wirelessly charge electric F1 cars when the Formula E racing series starts in two years time.

The news comes a day after it emerged that Samsung is working on its own long range wireless charging technology.

Sony's new charger would still require the smartphone to be placed upon a pad to charge. Samsung's magnetic resonance-based charging would allow devices to permanently charge when within meters of a pad.

Samsung's technology is also expected to hit the market before Christmas 2014, possibly in time for the Galaxy Note 4.