PMA is the second most popular wireless charging standard that is being developed by an organization called the Power Matters Alliance, now also known as AirFuel Alliance. The main problem with different standards such as PMA and Qi is that they don't work with each other. So if you have a PMA compatible smartphone then forget charging it with a Qi charging pad. Power Matters Alliance / AirFuel AlliancePower Matters Alliance, also known as PMA, is an organization/alliance that consists of various companies who all push the wireless charging standard called the PMA. In a sense it is the same as the Wireless Power Consortium, just different standard and different companies. Some of the companies behind PMA are Starbucks, Energy Star, AT&T, Flextronics, Duracell, Powermat Technologies and Federal Communications Commission. In 2015 Power Matters Alliance (PMA) and Alliance For Wireless Power (A4WP) decided to merge and the new organization is now called AirFuel Alliance. Under AirFuel Alliance, both the PMA and Rezence wireless standards are being developed. Technically Power Matters Alliance doesn't exist anymore but the 2 standards are still being developed separately inside AirFuel. What is PMA?PMA wireless charging standard uses electromagnetic induction between coils in order to create electrical energy. Inside your wireless charger there is a coil that is called "inductive charger". Inside a receiver there is another coil that is also called "inductive receiver". The "inductive chargers" coil creates an alternating electromagnetic field. The "inductive receiver" turns the power from the electromagnetic field into electrical current. It is basically the same technology that Qi uses but PMA operates at a different frequency so they aren't compatible with each other. Another difference between those two is that with PMA, the company offering it can track information. For example PMA wireless charging stations at Starbucks allows them to track how long someone has been charging for. Duracell Powermat and Power RingAt the moment there is only one company that has created PMA chargers and that is Duracell. They have different chargers available at a really good price. The only problem is that most smartphones don't have a wireless receiver built inside them so you are going to need an external one. For example a PMA wireless charging case that is also available on Duracells website.
A better alternative in my opinion is the Duracell Power Ring. It is a small attachable PMA wireless receiver ring that is also used in Starbucks. You simply plug it into your smartphones port and place it over your charger. PS! Power Rings only work with the PMA3 standard which is an upgraded version of the PMA. So if you wish to use the Power Rings at home then purchase the Duracell PMA3 Powermat. It is a little bit pricier than the original PMA Powermat but on the plus side, you won't need to mess around with the expensive charging cases that don't fit every phone.
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