Intel intrigued many with its “charging bowl” concept this week. The idea of coming home and dropping your phone and wearables into a tasteful bowl by the door for fast and easy battery charging is appealing. Yet Asian component powerhouse Mediatek may be racing ahead in the wireless charging wars with its Inductive and Resonance Wireless Charging Solution that offers to recharge batteries through furniture and even walls.

The key goals here are charging multiple devices without worrying about how close they are to the actual charger, even if there’s a wall separating the two. As households increasingly juggle half a dozen devices, choreographing charging is suddenly becoming surprisingly stressful. Many American families already own two or three smartphones and the number of dual-tablet households is soaring. Add to that an eBook or two and perhaps a smartwatch and the need for unified charging systems becomes obvious.

We can only guess what health advocates who worry about electromagnetic radiation will say about the idea of charging your tablet through a sofa you are sitting on, but it’s likely to lead to some lively discussion.