Otterbox, the company best known for its rugged smartphone cases, has released a pretty neat and future-facing wireless charging system. The OtterSpot Wireless Charging System ($130) consists of one 36-watt charging base and a series of portable power banks (called “OtterSpots”); the charging base plugs into the wall and, acting like any other wireless charging mat, will wireless charge your smartphone or the individual OtterSpots.
Each OtterSpot is a 10-watt, 5,000mAh capacity portable battery that can charge via USB-C or wirelessly through Qi if stacked on top of the charging base. The idea is that both the charging base and each individual OtterSpot can work as a wireless charging mat; the fact that the OtterSpots are portable means that you won’t need a wire or a power outlet to charge your smartphone while you’re on the road. Also, because it’s Otterbox, each one of these portable power banks are basically drop-proof.
When at home, you can place your smartphone on top of a stack of OtterSpots and it’ll wirelessly charge; the stack of OtterSpots will simultaneously be charging themselves. The fact that each individual OtterSpot can be charged with a USB-C cable or Qi wireless charging pad, means that they (and there, you) are not condemned to some proprietary dock – you can charge these individual OtterSpots anywhere you want.
For $130, you get the 36-watt charging base and one OtterSpot. Each extra OtterSpot can be purchased for an extra $70. The system is optimized to work with two OtterSpots and the charging base; according to The Verge, stacking (thus, charging) more than two OtterSpots will slow down the charging speeds of the entire system.
As for who the OtterSpot Wireless Charging System is for – that’s interesting. I imagine that anybody heavily invested in wireless charging and who travels a lot would like this. Or anybody who just loves Otterbox. Also, it could be a good one-stop-shop for families; they can divy out individual OtterSpots to various members in the morning and then charge them in one central place at night.
