While everyone seems to be focused on the new MagSafe chargers hitting the market, it’s time to take a look at Volonic. Created by Shawn Dougherty — the former founder of the popular tech accessory brand (and a particular favorite around here), mophie — Volonic is a high-end luxury lifestyle brand “fusing innovative technologies with fashionable works of art.” Its first product, the new Valet 3, is the world’s “first customizable, full-surface, position-free, wireless charging solution available on the market.” It uses special wireless charging technologies to offer up a premium cord-free charging solution to folks with a penchant for precious materials, fashion-grade textiles, and gorgeous, functional artist design — all of which you can design yourself with the brand’s online configurator. Hit the jump for a closer look at the Volonic Valet 3 charging solution.
Volonic Valet 3 luxury charging surface
The Volonic Valet 3 makes use of premium materials, including CNC anodized aluminum, “fashion grade” Alcantara and genuine full-grain leathers “used in luxury cars such as Ferrari and Lamborghini” to create a gorgeous charging pad for all of your compatible devices, unlike just about anything we have seen before.
Under the hood, Valet 3 makes use of something known as Aira FreePower technology. This enables the entire top surface to be used as a charging pad without worrying about the proper alignment of your devices. It supports up to three Qi-enabled devices in this way, making for a particularly easy-to-use and premium experience for the user. FreePower is also, according to the brand, “the first-ever wireless charging technology to allow for software updates.” Here are more details from Volonic:
Unlike traditional wireless chargers, which require devices to be precisely aligned with a small hot spot, FreePower features full surface charging from corner to corner. As devices are placed across the surface, precise power is delivered and intelligently managed to optimize performance.
To add to the list of world’s firsts here, Volonic also offers a “4-step, fully custom design buildout experience” via its online digital configurator. It is essentially one of those online customizer editors you’ve likely seen elsewhere but packed with the aforementioned luxury materials:
Consumers can compare and visualize digital renderings in real-time before finalizing design details and product specifications for order.
The brand created a limited run, solid 18-karat gold version of the Valet 3 with 100% authentic Vicuna Wool that’s listed at well over $250,000, but the now available to order Valet 3 won’t run you nearly that much. Pricing starts at $585 for the luxury Volonic Valet 3 charging surface and goes up from there depending on how expensive your taste is inside of the configurator.
9to5Toys’ Take
Well, clearly, a $585+ charging pad isn’t going to work for everyone. Most folks are more than happy with a $10 Anker solution and likely consider some of the Twelve South-level gear to be a higher-end option. The Volonic brand and, subsequently, its gorgeous new Valet 3 charger is not for those people. With the ability to update the charging tech inside, here’s to hoping folks who do decide to make the sizable investment in order to bring home a quality piece of charging kit will be safe well into the future, as well as with upcoming iPhone releases. It will only be a matter of time before we get to go hands-on with the new luxury power surface, so stay locked to 9to5toys for our upcoming impressions of the Volonic Valet 3.
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