[mseebach]

It's very likely that the low-tech alternative just catches up way sooner than the (objectively better) high tech solution becomes viable.

The low tech in this case is that your friend probably has a compatible charger, and it's probably even already lying around so you can just plug in without even breaking conversation.

(There are a number of incompatible standards out there, but wireless charging would also be beset by competing standards)

[mnx]

Really there are only three standards I can think of - micro usb, covering probably 80%+ of devices, whatever the current becoming popular. That's way better than it used to be.