If you have a recent smartphone there’s a good chance it supports wireless charging, but no guarantee, as while wireless charging has been around for quite a while now, it’s still far from a standard feature.
Below then, we’ll look at the key phones that support wireless charging – there are too many for a complete list, but we’ll cover the ones you’re most likely to have or be interested in.
You’ll also find information on what exactly wireless charging is, how fast it is, and what other devices support it.
Wireless charging is basically exactly what it sounds - the ability to charge a device wirelessly, though it’s not always quite as simple as that, as it typically requires a wireless charging mat of some kind which itself will usually have a wire.
So essentially in most cases you would place a phone (or other device that you want to charge) on a charging mat, and just by being placed there it would be charged up. So there’s no wire required into the phone, but there is usually one into the mat.
There are a large number of smartphones that support wireless charging, including Galaxy S phones from the Galaxy S6 onwards (and of course including the much more recent Samsung Galaxy S22 range), and iPhones from the iPhone X onwards (including the iPhone 14 range and the iPhone SE 2022).
Other Samsung phones with wireless charging include the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold line, the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip line, and Galaxy Note phones from the Note 5 onwards.
You’ll also find wireless charging supported by the OnePlus 8 Pro onwards (including the OnePlus 10 Pro), the Google Pixel 3 onwards (including the Pixel 7 range but not the A-series models), and the Sony Xperia 1 II onwards, including the Sony Xperia 1 IV, plus the Sony Xperia 5 IV.
Other phones with wireless charging include the Xiaomi 12, Xiaomi Mi 11 and the Xiaomi Mi 9, along with their Pro and Ultra siblings. From Oppo there’s the likes of the Oppo Find X5 Pro, Find X3 Pro and others, and Honor includes wireless charging on phones such as the Honor Magic 4 Pro.
Basically, most (but not all) remotely recent flagships support wireless charging, as do a number of lower end handsets. But the majority of mid-range and low-end phones don’t.
More and more new devices are sure to support wireless charging though, as the tech is becoming ever more common and increasingly expected in phones.
Note that some phones also now act as a wireless charging pad for other devices, through something called ‘reverse wireless charging’ or similar. This means you can place, say, a smartwatch or another phone on the back of one of these, and charge it back up wirelessly – draining battery from the phone acting as the charger to do so. This form of wireless charging can also be truly wireless.
Yes. Anything that requires charging could theoretically be made to support wireless charging, including tablets and smartwatches, and some of them already do. Over time we’d expect to see ever more devices of all kinds support it.
Speed is one of the main downsides of wireless charging, as it’s not as fast as the fastest wired solutions. However it can still be very fast, with the Honor Magic 4 Pro for example offering 100W wireless charging.
For reference, even with wires the Samsung Galaxy S22 only charges at 25W, and the iPhone 14 range is similarly slow, so 100W is extremely fast. Yet at the top end wired charging can exceed 200W, while many phones only charge wirelessly at around 15W, so high speeds aren’t always offered.
Wireless power aims to free you from wires. Although a charging mat is still generally required it can be more convenient, as you don’t have to plug your phone in, you just place it on the mat and in some cases multiple devices can be charged at once by a single mat.
To make it even more convenient some manufacturers are starting to build wireless chargers right into things, such as car dashboards and tables.
As well as being a little more convenient than wired charging, wireless chargers are also more durable, as they don’t get worn out in the way wired ones do from constantly plugging them in and unplugging them. Similarly, you don’t risk damaging the charging port on your phone when you juice up wirelessly.
So if you have a phone that supports wireless charging, it’s well worth taking advantage of.
