In an effort to create the most elegant and minimal charging tray, forged with the best materials, we present you the Charging Tray by MDS.
Get Early bird prices and support the development of the MDS Power Tray
Get Early bird prices and support the development of the MDS Power Tray
Firstly, thank you all for following our story. We started on Instagram as a small desk setup page that helped inspire peoples’ workspaces during covid. Following the launch of our wildly successful desk pad, we wanted to design something elegant and modern that would fit into peoples’ setups as a practical but stealthy addition. At least that was the surface level reason, I had a different reason for why I designed it.
The real reason: I was trying to get home on a late night out, I pulled out my phone to call an Uber only to see it was on 1%. I knew this would be the end of me.
Needless to say, the Uber couldn’t locate me and I had to find some other way home. I thought to myself: “I was at my desk the whole day, why didn’t I just charge my phone”
Well after taking a few trains and a bus, I made it home. I knew what my desk setup was missing. It was a wireless charger that I could use on and off. Getting one should be easy, at least that’s what I thought.
I did find heaps on amazon, but the aesthetics weren’t quite right. I eventually found something that was good enough, it wasn’t cheap though.
It arrived, but after plugging it in I was dreadfully disappointed. It took an hour to charge 5%, I later learnt, it was a 5W Wireless charger using ancient wireless charging technology.
So that’s how it started – I was committed to designing a wireless charger that looked good but also performed charged as fast as practicably possible.
I would say any phone from the last 2 to 3 generations would be equipped with wireless charging capabilities. Phones aside, even charging cases for Bluetooth Earphones come with wireless charging capabilities. We thought it would be a perfect addition to your desk setup. There are heaps of wireless chargers on the market, but we noticed most of them didn’t have the quality or simple design we were looking for. We wanted quality, but at the lower price point, most wireless chargers were made from plastic or were just a basic circular shape and didn’t contribute aesthetically.
From here, our goal was quite clear: Design something that had the best quality material and aesthetics for a relatively competitive price for its quality. The Charging technology must be the fastest available non-proprietary charger which is qi 1.2 at 15W. Our charger will be paired with a Qualcomm Quick Charge 3.0.
The design needed to be clean and stealthy. We wanted something that would have a long life, but more importantly, it needed to provide several practical functions as always.
The Shape & Form
In terms of the shape and form, we’ve gone with a long rectangular design in order to enable a minimum footprint on your table. So that you can easily place this tray under your monitor and have access to it while you work. The overall size is 8cm x 18cm (3.16in x 7.09in). We’ve allowed for one area to be used for charging and our logo has been subtly modified to show the charging symbol and area. The divet is designed to store small things like your keys or your wireless earphones. We didn’t want to add a huge amount of space because that would take extra footprint on your table and introduce unnecessary clutter. The storage side is NOT equipped with wireless charging, but we have considered it as a possible future upgrade.
The body is crafted from 6063 aluminium alloy. For those who are unfamiliar, its in the same class of materials used for the older Apple Macbook Unibody frame. It’s durable, strong and looks great. 6063 is also rust resistant.
Size: 180mm x 80mm x 12mm or 7.09in x 3.16in x 0.47in
We choose this specific sizing because we didn’t want the actual item to stand out. We were thinking you probably only need to charge your phone or your wireless earbuds. In the future, we may upgrade to a two-bay charger, but we probably won’t go more than that. We’ve seen a lot of chargers on the market that can charge literally everything like your phone, your watch your ear bud and also your pencil. We thought that was pretty overkill to have that and introduces extra clutter for not a lot of gain. Items like your watch and pencil don’t really need to be charged all the item, in fact doing so might reduce the battery life overall. These are Apple products that we’re talking about.
Without boring you with too much technical information. The specs are as follows:
Size: 180mm x 80mm x 12mm or 7.09in x 3.16in x 0.47in
Frame – Machined 6063 Aluminium Alloy
Top Surface – Vegan Leather
Charging Wattage – 15W Peak.
USB Connector – Type C connection port with indicator light.
Charging Brick – Qualcomm 3.0 Charger
The item is already ready as of Mid-March 2022.
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