Nexus 4 wireless charging orb now on sale in the US

Posted on 12 Feb 2013 at 10:01, by Tom Morgan

Google has finally made its wireless charging orb for the Nexus 4 smartphone available to buy - at least, if you live in the US. It appeared on the American Play store last night, months after being initially unveiled.

The sphere-shaped dock, which positions the Nexus 4 at a comfortable angle for reading the screen when charging, will apparently ship to customers in a week for $60 - roughly £38 excluding taxes. It's uses the Qi inductive charging system, which is built into the base of every Nexus 4 handset.

The Nexus 4 isn't the only phone to support the feature: Nokia's Lumia 920 also supports Qi, with the Finish manufacturer having already produced wireless charging plates and pillows for its Windows Phone 8 devices.

We don't yet know whether UK-based Nexus 4 owners will be able to join their American counterparts any time soon, as Google has yet to announce the time scale for an international release of the Orb. Hopefully it won't experience the same stock shortage issues the smartphone suffered from when it launched last year.