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Why does every adult toy still need its own charger? | KINDRED Research
What consumers end up with isn't really a charging ecosystem. It's a collection of separate charging solutions.
What consumers end up with isn't really a charging ecosystem. It's a collection of separate charging solutions.
You pick up a toy.
It's dead.
So you start looking for the charging cable.
You find one.
Wrong one.
You look again.
Eventually, you find the right cable.
You plug it in.
And then you wonder:
Why do I need so many different cables in the first place?
Phones can charge wirelessly.
Earbuds can sit in a charging case.
Watches can sit on a charging dock.
There are even charging pads that can charge several devices at once.
So why do adult toys still so often need a charger of their own?
This isn't really a question of whether the technology exists
If we had asked this question ten years ago, it would have been reasonable to say that wireless charging was not mature enough.
That is no longer the case.
The Qi wireless charging standard has been around since 2010, and the Wireless Power Consortium now lists more than 13,000 Qi Certified products.
Qi2 has taken things further with magnetic alignment, making it easier for devices and chargers to line up correctly.
Wireless charging is no longer a futuristic idea.
It is already ordinary consumer technology.
Multi-device wireless charging is ordinary too.
There are already charging stations designed to charge several devices at the same time.
So from a consumer electronics perspective, the idea of a tray that charges multiple small devices at once is hardly radical.
And adult toys have already tried wireless charging
There is another interesting detail.
Wireless charging is not completely new to this category either.
Some adult products have already used Qi wireless charging.
That means the question isn't:
"Can an adult toy be charged wirelessly?"
At least in some cases, the answer is clearly yes.
The more interesting question is:
Why hasn't wireless charging become a more common experience across the category?
Of course, it isn't that simple
It would be easy to jump to a conclusion:
"Then everything should just use USB-C."
USB-C certainly solves one problem.
But it still means:
Find the cable → plug it in → charge → unplug it → put the cable somewhere.
And for small waterproof devices, a physical charging port also creates another opening that has to be designed and sealed.
Magnetic charging contacts solve some of that problem, but different brands and models can still use incompatible systems.
So today we have a mixture of:
- USB-C.
- Magnetic charging.
- Proprietary charging cables.
- Dedicated charging docks.
- Sometimes even different charging systems within the same brand.
What consumers end up with isn't really a charging ecosystem.
It's a collection of separate charging solutions.
Maybe the thing that needs redesigning isn't the charging port
Imagine a different experience.
You get home.
You place everything you've used that day onto one tray.
No searching for cables.
No checking which cable belongs to which device.
No plugging things in one by one.
You put them down.
They start charging.
The next day, they're ready.
The tray could do something else too.
Storage.
And organization.
It wouldn't just be a charger.
It would be a:
Charging + Storage Station.
That may matter more than a universal charging port
Because the real problem may never have been:
"Why does this product use USB-C while that one uses magnetic charging?"
The real problem may be:
Why do we still have to think about which cable we need?
Good product design often isn't about adding another feature.
It's about removing something the user has to think about.
We don't consider a refrigerator advanced because every type of food needs its own charging connector.
We don't consider earbuds convenient because every pair comes with its own cable.
We expect something simpler:
Put it down.
Let it charge.
But there are still a lot of unanswered questions
Wireless charging sounds simple.
Making it work across an entire product category isn't.
Some questions still need real answers:
- How do you align charging coils inside products with very different shapes?
- Can curved products use wireless charging efficiently?
- How should waterproofing be handled?
- How should power be distributed when several devices charge at once?
- Does heat become a problem?
- Is the space inside a small device better used for a battery, motor, electronics, or a charging coil?
- Should the industry simply use Qi or Qi2?
- Or does this category need something smaller and lower-powered?
- How many devices should one charging tray support?
- Should each device have its own charging position?
- And most importantly:
How much do consumers actually care about this problem?
We don't know the answer yet
KINDRED isn't here to tell you:
"We have already designed the next charging standard for adult toys."
We haven't.
We don't even know whether the best answer is USB-C, Qi, Qi2, magnetic charging, or something that doesn't exist yet.
But one thing seems worth discussing:
If you own several devices, have you ever been annoyed because you couldn't find the right charging cable?
If the answer is yes,
maybe this is a problem worth redesigning.
So, what would you change?
If you could redesign charging for your entire collection, what would you choose?
One universal cable?
Wireless charging?
A tray that charges several devices at once?
Or something completely different?
Tell us what you would build.
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