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This wireless charger wants to bring back fanny packs

Finally.

Daniel Van Boom Senior Writer
Daniel Van Boom is an award-winning Senior Writer based in Sydney, Australia. Daniel Van Boom covers cryptocurrency, NFTs, culture and global issues. When not writing, Daniel Van Boom practices Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, reads as much as he can, and speaks about himself in the third person.
Expertise Cryptocurrency, Culture, International News
Daniel Van Boom
2 min read
ampere-2

The Side Pocket Wireless.

Ian Knighton/CNET

CES, the world's biggest tech convention, has hit Las Vegas, and something fantastic has happened. It's not Intel's folding laptop, Alienware's Switch-like Concept UFO, and certainly not Sony's "new" PlayStation 5 logo. It's the Side Pocket Wireless, aka a reason for you to wear a fanny pack once again.

The Side Pocket is a fanny pack with a wireless charger inside. Put your phone inside one of its zippers, and you'll get a recharge on the go. The tech inside is a wireless, 13,400-mAh powerbank -- a pretty huge power source. Of course, you can also take said powerbank out of the fanny pack and use it as a standalone, wireless, non-fanny pack charger. 

But why would you do something crazy like that? 

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Inside is a 13,400-mAh wireless powerbank. 

Sarah Tew/CNET

The Side Pocket Wireless was a Kickstarter success story, earning over $200,000 since its campaign began in October. It's available for purchase now, and will start shipping later this month. Technically it starts at $50, but that just gets you the fanny pack itself. The wireless powerbank is $80, and a set of both is $120. 

Ampere at its booth was also showing off some of its older, but still intriguing wares. The company's main product is the Unravel, a wireless charger that unfolds into a three-part Qi wireless charging pad. You can use it to charge three phones at once, for instance. There's also a different model that has two Qi wireless charging parts and one Apple Watch charger, so you can charge an Apple Watch, AirPods and an iPhone at the same time.

So kind of like Apple's cancelled AirPower charger, in other words.

Phones at CES 2020: Cheap, shiny, 5G and concepts

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