Wireless charging was hailed as a great new feature a few years back. Samsung debuted it in 2015, with Apple following suit in 2017. But with wireless chargers still an added expense, many people question whether they are worth it.
Smartphones are already a necessary expense. You use your phone every day, and if you lost it you may need to spend a thousand dollars to replace it. This is why it is so important to protect your mobile against theft with proper insurance coverage. Do you really need to splash out on an extra charger just so you don’t have to plug your phone in?
Here are some of the pros and cons of buying a wireless charger.
Pro: It’s convenient
The term ‘wireless charger’ feels a bit disingenuous. After all, a wireless charger is still wired to the wall. There is no wire, however, between your phone and the charger. This makes charging your phone more convenient.
Rather than having to reach down and untangle cords to plug your phone in, you simply place it on the charging pad. Rather than pulling out the cable when you need to go somewhere, you simply pick it up. It requires no thought at all. If you like having your phone as juiced up as possible, having a wireless charger next to your laptop as you work can easily keep your battery level up.
Con: It’s not that convenient
But once you start to look a little deeper, some brand new inconveniences appear. For one thing, if you have a hefty phone case, you may have to remove it first. For another thing, while your phone is charging, you cannot use it. While you can pick up your phone when it has a cable attached, you stop it from charging as soon as you lift it from the charging pad.
Wireless chargers are also bigger and less portable. Even if you are using a wireless charger at home and in your office, when you’re working at a coffee shop or taking a trip, you’re still going to need a wired charger.
Pro: It’s good for your battery
Aside from convenience, the second biggest selling point for wireless chargers is that they are good for your battery. Your battery will still degrade over time, but it will last a lot longer. This is because they use a slower current to charge your phone. Of course, that also means that…
Con: It’s slower
Yes, a wireless charger charges your phone at a slower pace. This may not be a problem if you are putting your phone on to charge when you go to bed at night or charging your phone throughout the day. But when you need some extra battery and have very little time, a wireless charger will be your last port of call.
Pro: It charges more devices
A big advantage of wireless chargers is that you don’t need to plug all of your different devices into a tangle of different cords. Instead, you can place your phone, tablet, and watch on the wireless charger. In this way, it might even save you money, as you won’t need to replace all of those wired chargers.
Con: It feels exploitative
Wireless chargers have their advantages and in some cases can be more convenient. But why do they exist? And why is there now a huge range of wireless chargers on the market, with prices ranging from $15 to hundreds of dollars? The simplest answer is that they exist to make their manufacturers more money.
Good products are created to solve a problem. But what is the problem here? The slight inconvenience of having to attach a cord to your device is not enough to warrant a whole new gadget.
In some ways, it reminds me of the ways Apple has marketed facial recognition technology. It was the next evolution of the iPhone, except it did little but replace fingerprint scanning.
It took a pandemic that required us all to wear masks to reveal just how little facial recognition added to our lives. With wireless charging, it might be travel that disillusions you, or simply the need to create more space on your desk.
Ultimately, wireless chargers are an expense that is totally unnecessary. However, they do provide some more convenience, and that may be enough to persuade you to splash the cash.
