Remember when
Palm thought that wireless phone charging was the
future, and then the TouchStone charger never went anywhere? Turns out, wireless charging is apt to only go mainstream once it's truly wireless; having to lay your phone on a dedicated charging pad isn't exactly a major improvement over a standard USB charging cable. That said,
Samsung's offering up a similar option for the small niche that may be interested, and given that it
sold 10 million Galaxy S4 handsets in under a month, it stands to gain a lot of extra revenue if even a small fraction of those bite.
The new GS4 charging kit utilizes the Qi wireless charging standard, and provides a new back plate for the phone as well as a charging pad. Set your phone on said pad, and energy is transferred wirelessly. Interested? The plate costs $39.99, while the pad runs $49.99. Something tells us most folks will opt to just keep using the included cable instead of shelling out that much cash.