Want to know how does wireless charging work? Read this post.
Electronics have become an integral part of our day-to-day lifestyle. We use them to make difficult tasks easy by using them to complete certain tasks. Electronics are usually automatic, which means that they provide faster completion of any task with usually minimum effort applied by the humans. However, when it comes to maintaining any electronic item’s condition, it sometimes consumes way more effort and time than expected.
For example, any electronic item loses its charge within a few hours of use, which makes the user commence the charging process, which in turn consumes time, money, and energy again. Usually, people use a cable wire to connect it to their electronic item and then connect it to a power source to supply the power to the electronic item that requires charging.
Although this method may look complicated to a few, it isn’t that complicated when you compare it to the previously existing methods to charge any item. However, to make the charging part even easier, some inventions such as power banks and batteries with bigger capacities supporting fast charging came out.
As time went by and the electronic companies kept developing power banks and batteries further to upgrade them, some companies came up with the idea of wireless charging, which meant that any supported electronic item could be charged using chargers that are wireless.
This invention turned the world of electronics completely and the prospects of this project happened to be bright at that moment.
A very common question that would come to one’s mind after hearing about wireless charging is how does wireless charging work?
So we request you to keep reading this article to the very end to get the best answer to your question and get an in-depth analysis of wireless charging technology.
How does wireless charging work?
In the current day scenario, if you wish to wirelessly charges your compatible mobile phone, smartwatch, or Bluetooth headsets through a commercially available wireless charger, you will have to buy a wireless charging pad which is available in the market and place it below your phone with its one end connected to a power source (The wireless changing pads come along with wireless chargers which need to be placed below the phone and the other side of the wireless charger need to be connected to a power source like normal wired chargers to receive electricity).
As soon as you turn the wireless charger on with your device placed on top of it, the wireless charger will start transmitting electricity using an inductor coil to the phone to charge the phone. This technology is known as inductive charging.
Both the wireless charging pad and the mobile phone capable of wireless charging has a coil to transmit and recieve signals. These coils are usually made out of copper and are tightly wound.
What happens during wireless charging?
When a phone is placed on top the wireless charging pad it recieves a signal from the wireless charger. The coil that is present is the medium to transfer the power from the pad to the device. When the charging pad is connected to the source, current passes through the copper coil and creates a magnetic field.
This magnetic field is then recieved by the device’s copper coil, which in turn induces a current that passes the current through a power rectifier to the battery of the smart phone and thus charges it.
Additional Information
Certain standards are used in wireless charging, and the most mentionable ones are QI wireless charging (QI pronounced chee), which supports multiple devices of different brands (above 3700 compatible mobile devices). Qi wireless charging standard is one of the most used standards amongst the android device, and any Qi wireless charging-based device cannot be paired with any other standard-based device for charging.
Another famous standard for wireless chargers is Airfuel alliance resonance which allows the compatible device to receive charging even if it is 5 centimeters away from the charging pad/charger, unlike other wireless charging standards like Qi which won’t charge the device unless it is kept on top of them.
Apart from these charging standards, other companies provide better wireless charging solutions that allow the user to wirelessly charge the device from bigger distances, unlike the previously mentioned standards(Qi standard or Airfuel standard), which don’t go beyond the charging pad or few centimeters away from it.
As mentioned earlier in this article, the future prospects of this type of technology seem to be very good; hence, many companies are working on this technology to develop it further for a better user experience. In the future, people will be able to charge their vehicles through wireless charging even if their vehicle is parked or is in locomotion through power delivery services that would be set up like mobile network services today. This type of charging will reduce our dependency on fossil fuels and help in sustaining a better environment.
However, the current day wireless chargers are not so efficient because nowadays there are fast chargers available that provide up to 200 watts (wired charger) of charging speeds, but the wireless that are existing in today’s date are just 5 watts which is equivalent to nothing when compared to normal chargers.
Such less amount speed results in depleting battery life because of excess heat in batteries and causes unwanted loss of energy. This low-power charging speed is enough to charge an apple watch, a few electric toothbrushes, or any other handheld device with a small battery, but it is not okay for devices with huge batteries.
Which phones support wireless charging features?
This is a very fluctuating subject as the names of the phones keep on changing and adding to this list every time a new phone or electronic device is launched in the market. However, we have segregated some names of smartphones that support wireless charging as of Novmber 2021. The names of the phones and devices that support wireless charging and are Qi-enabled are provided as follows:-
Brand-Apple inc.
Phone 12/ IPhone 8 and 8 Plus/ iPhone X/ iPhone Xs, Xs Max/ IPhone XR/ IPhone 11/ IPhone 11 Pro, 11 Pro Max/ IPhone SE (2nd generation)/ IPhone 12 mini/ IPhone 12 Pro, 12 Pro Max/ IPhone 13 and 13 mini/ IPhone 13 Pro, 13 Pro Max
The above-mentioned IPhones can be charged using any Qi wireless standard-based charger by aligning the charger with the apple logo.
Apart from the above-mentioned Iphones, wireless charging is supported in some other Apple devices too such as the Apple Watch and the Apple AirPods.
Brand-Samsung
Samsung Galaxy Fold or Z Fold 2 5G, Samsung Galaxy Z Flip or Flip 5G, Samsung Galaxy S20, S20 Ultra, or S20 FE Edition, Samsung Galaxy S10, Galaxy S10+ and Galaxy S10e,Samsung Galaxy S9 and Galaxy S9+, Samsung Galaxy Note 20 or Note 20 Ultra, Samsung Galaxy Note 9, Samsung Galaxy Note 10, Note 10 Plus, or Note 10 Plus 5G
All the above-mentioned smartphones support wireless charging and have Qi wireless charging built into them. Apart from the above-mentioned Samsung devices, the Samsung Galaxy Watch is active and the latest Samsung buds support wireless charging too.
Brand-LG
LG Wing, LG Velvet, LG V50, LG V40, LG V35, LG V30, LG V60, LG G8 ThinQ, G8s ThinQ, V50 ThinQ, LG G8, G8s, G8X, LG G7 ThinQ, LG V40 ThinQ, LG G7 ThinQ, and LG V40 ThinQ
There are no other products by LG that support wireless charging too as of now (i.e when this article is being written)
Brand- Huawei
Huawei P40, P40 Pro, or P40 Pro+, Huawei P30 and P30 Pro, Huawei Mate 20, Mate 20 Pro, or Mate 20 RS Porsche Design, Huawei Mate 30, Mate 30 Pro, or Mate 30 RS, Huawei Mate 20 Pro, Huawei Honor V30 Pro
Apart from the above-mentioned products, only the latest Huawei buds 3 supports wireless charging.
Brand-Xiaomi
Xiaomi Mi 10T Pro, Xiaomi Mi 10, Mi 10 Pro, or 10 Lite, Xiaomi Mi Mix 3, Xiaomi Mi 9 and Mi 9 Explorer/Pro
Xiaomi has been working to create many wireless products hence they have many products that support wireless charging too such as the latest MI earphones and smartwatches which are mentioned on their website.
Brand-Nokia
Nokia 9.3 Pureview, Nokia 9 PureView, Nokia 9 PureView
Only the above-mentioned products support wireless charging under this brand as of now.
Brand-OnePlus
OnePlus 8 Pro
No other product supports wireless charging under this brand as of now.
Brand-Google
Google Pixel 5, Google Pixel 4 or 4 XL, Google Pixel 3, and Pixel 3XL
No other product was found to have a wireless charging feature in the above-mentioned brand as of November 2021.
Brand-ZTE
ZTE Axon 10 Pro, ZTE Axon 9 Pro
The above-mentioned brand does not have any other product that supports wireless charging as of today’s date.
What are some best wireless chargers that can be used?
There are quite a few wireless chargers that fall under various segments that can charge compatible phones wirelessly. The names of the chargers are mentioned as follows:-
1) Apple Magsafe charger and Magsafe duo– These are apple’s official wireless chargers that use the latest magnets to charge Apple’s latest devices wirelessly. However, this charger may not be compatible with all the devices.
2) Aukey 10 W wireless charger– This charger is an affordable charger that comes with a TPU coating that prevents your phone’s slipping, and it has a 3 coil design that allows you to place the device anyhow on it.
3) Belkin boost up wireless charging stand and Belkin wireless charging dock- These chargers feature a high charging speed that allows the users to charge their compatible devices fast.
4) Samsung wireless charging pad– This charger packs a mini self-cooling fan that helps the charger to cool down quickly as the wireless chargers tend to heat up quickly while charging any device.
5) Yootech wireless charger– This happens to be one of the simplest wireless chargers with a generic design in the market. However, this charger does not support fast charging.
6) Anker Powerwave pad and stand is a super cheap charger that iPhone users mainly buy. This charger does not provide a good grip for the phone.
7) Google pixel wireless chargers with a stand- This charger has a few LED lights that illuminate and can be used as a fancy charger in the dark due to this feature. Google assistant happens to work well with this charger as it manages a few of the features within this charger, like triggering a bedtime mode that toggles on Do Not Disturb. Later on, it even has the screen light up bright orange to mimic the sunrise just before your alarm.
Here are some recent updates regarding wireless charging that have taken recently, along with other things regarding wireless charging-
There are some features in new-age phones like reverse wireless charging where the phone consisting of this feature will act as a charging pad and allow other devices to charge wirelessly from the backside of themselves. This type of feature may prove helpful in case of emergencies to transfer power to devices with no power at all.
Apple, too provides the same feature as the other wireless charger manufacturing companies. Apple’s wireless charger used to charge phones such as iPhone XR iPhone XS also uses QI wireless charging to transfer power.
Any wireless charging supported device can use a wireless charger of a different company for their smartphone or any compatible product. Still, as mentioned before, both the devices’ standard needs to be the same to work properly. The manufacturers of the charger and the phone are not supposed to be the same.
Recently, Xiaomi introduced a prototype of their upcoming wireless charging product that can charge any compatible device anywhere around it even if there are too many obstacles obstructing its way. In this case, the charger acts as a station that is sending some radio frequencies at certain speeds, whereas the receiver is the phone. This charger is called MI Air charger, and there is no initial cost for this product given by Xiaomi.
There is a rumor in the electric market that Tesla is one of the few companies showing their interest in using wireless power charging stations for their cars in the future.
So, now you know how does wireless charging work right? So, what’s stopping you from using it. Buy your wireless charging pads now.
