Charging a smartphone usually requires a charger brick and a cable. This remained the standard since the inception of feature phone saga. Not anymore. Induction Charging (Wireless Charging) has been around for a long time from 20th century but recently manufacturers have managed to incorporate that into smartphones. So how does that work? Let’s find out!
The Basics: First you need a smartphone compatible with wireless charging and second, you need a wireless charger itself. As of now the wireless charging is limited to flagship smartphones (gives it a premium appeal), like Samsung S series and Note Series, Apple iPhone 8 and above etc;
The working: Qi (pronounced chee), is a standard used in almost every smartphone. The wireless charger itself has copper wiring which emits electromagnetic waves through the charger, and there must be a receiver right? so the receiver is placed inside the mobile phone which receives the electromagnetic waves and converts them into electrical energy which in turn charges the phone’s battery.
What is the upside?: This is a new piece of technology and it eliminates the need for physical cables for charging up your phone making your work desk clean (atleast from messy cables lying around). Many premium cars offer wireless charging and it comes in handy if you don’t want to bring cables into your car. 😛
The downside?: Wireless charging is SLOW. I mean it just does not match the speeds of a traditional wired charger. And a good wireless charger costs more than a wired charger. Your phone must be placed on the charger and you could not use it while charging, because if you lift it up it stops charging.
Latest Xiaomi flagship has come with a incredible tech to beat this. The Mi9 has support for 20W fast wireless charging (that is the speed of OnePlus’ wired dash charging).
Do note that wireless charging does not work with a phone which has a metal back. The waves can penetrate only Glass back phones and Plastic back phones.
To conclude, it is happy to see the tech which are previously seemed impossible to implement in a device with a size of our palm, being turning to reality. Manufacturers must not limit this tech to flagships alone making tech accessible to all. 🙂
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