Is wireless charging worth it?

Just how fast is “faster wireless charging” in iOS 11.2? (BirchTree)

NOTE: Samsung’s “Fast Charge” charging pad does not have any hard numbers I can find that indicates how much power it will provide. The below findings display a notable change from previous testing of wireless charging I’ve done. I’ll update this article if I can get more information on th...

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I still don't understand the current fascination with wireless charging. It was clear to me that unless wireless charging could meet or exceed the rate of wired charging, that it was more of a gimmick than a feature. It takes longer to charge the device; significantly longer.

Just a short drive, 30-minutes, using mapping software will drain a phone battery significantly. I've driven on long trips from New Jersey to Connecticut, Toronto, and Michigan while using my Apple Maps and listening to music on my iPhone. The iPhone remained plugged in the whole trip and at the end of the trip was fully charged. Is there a dash mounted wireless charger that allows the user to see the phone and mapping display while driving and listening to music and keeping the phone charged?

The user has to carry the wireless charger and plug that in somewhere and put the device directly on the charging pad. What's the advantage over just plugging the device into a faster wireless charger? If the charging port is removed from devices like some people suggest, how will we charge our phones after half a day walking around Manhattan?

Wireless charging will be more useful someday, in the future, but not today.

Matt Birchler writes:

Over the 2-hour test, the iPhone 8 Plus went from zero to 47%. It charged at an incredibly consistent 4% per 10 minutes. Previously I got up to 40% with this same charger after 2 hours, which is a 17% improvement in wireless charging speed. While this is indeed an increase, it’s not the sort of increase that’s going to get you from “wireless charging is too slow” to “I love wireless charging!”. If you have 2 hours to change your phone and there is a 7% difference in the change level, I don’t think that’s a huge deal. Especially when you compare 30 minutes on the charger, I saw literally no change in performance, as it took 30 minutes for the phone to reach 11% charge.

Wired charging remains the fastest way to charge the iPhone in 2017, and it’s not even close. It’s popular to hate on the charger in the box, but the stock iPhone charger gets the iPhone 8 Plus to 79% in 2 hours (68% faster) and up to 21% at the 30-minute mark (91% faster). That’s a pretty striking difference, and if speed is of the essence, it’s a much better way to get topped up fast.

Things get silly when we look at the true fast charging option that Apple has for the new iPhones. The 29W power brick and a USB-C to Lightning cable charge the iPhone 8 Plus to 100% in 2 hours (112% faster) and the difference is even more striking at the 30-minute point where this gets the phone to 43% (391% faster).

Author: Khürt Williams

A human who works in information security and enjoys photography, Formula 1 and craft ale. #nobridge