Ben Popper, writing for The Verge:

Last week a former engineer from the much hyped wireless charging startup uBeam left some scathing criticism of the company on his blog. He compared uBeam to the now disgraced startup Theranos, saying that uBeam has avoided any full-fledged public demonstrations because its technology doesn’t work as advertised. While it can do some very limited charging over a short distance, he allowed, the basic laws of physics prevent the product from being practical at any commercial level.

And:

Earlier this year Bloomberg reported that Apple was hoping to add wireless charging to the new iPhone it releases in 2017. And the Bloomberg report specified that Apple wanted to go beyond the minor convenience of a charging mat — which lets you avoid the cable, but doesn’t fully free up your device. According to Bloomberg’s sources, Apple wants to implement a much more advanced technology that would allow you to walk around a room and have your phone charging the entire time.

I can’t speak to the physics at work here, but I’ve never seen any demonstration that shows anything close to this capability. Is this a pipe dream? Rumor mongering? Or is there a proof of concept inside a black draped room in an Apple R&D lab?

My instinct is that the loss of efficiency as you move further and further from direct contact would make this impossible. But I thought quantum entanglement was impossible, too, and that has been demonstrated. We shall see.