The Best Wireless Charging Pad

Buying Guide

Wireless charging pads make it possible for you to charge up your smartphone’s battery by placing it on a special surface, eliminating the need for charging cables. To use the pad, all you need is a smartphone that supports wireless charging — or a smartphone case that enables charging if it doesn’t come built in.

Wireless charging pads are available in multiple forms, from mouse pad-like mats to hockey puck-size discs. The devices use electromagnetic induction to transfer energy from the charger to a receiver in the back of the phone. The charger uses an induction or transmitter coil to create an alternating electromagnetic field, which the receiver coil in the phone coverts back to electricity to fuel the battery. To work properly, the charging pad and the phone have to be in close proximity and aligned on top of each other (the specific orientation depends on the type of charger you have).

What does “Qi-certified” mean? Pronounced “chee,” Qi is a wireless charging standard that is currently adopted by most major phone manufacturers, including Samsung and Apple. There are two competing types of wireless charging technologies — magnetic inductive and magnetic resonance — and Qi is an inductive method established in 2010 by the Wireless Power Consortium. It specifies three different power ranges for the chargers and laid out the way that devices would communicate with the charging stations to ensure safety and efficiency.

The introduction of Qi allowed charging station and smartphone manufacturers to acquire tried-and-true components to implement wireless charging without investing in extra research and development to find the best inductive method. Qi’s inductive method is also known to be more energy-efficient than resonant charging methods and requires smaller components, enabling manufacturers to produce more compact wireless chargers. While Android manufacturers began using the Qi standard as early as 2012, Apple didn’t opt in until 2017, when the company released the iPhone 8. Since then, Apple and Android owners have been able to use the same Qi-supported charging hardware.

An advantage to wireless charging pads is the ability to charge multiple devices at once (for example, if you have Apple AirPods and an iPhone). But one major setback to having a Qi-certified inductive charging pad is that it may require a specific alignment and distance to the receiver device, meaning you have to place your phone on the charger in a precise manner or it won’t charge. Resonant chargers tend to be less fussy when it comes to device placement, but some inductive charging stations are equipped with multiple transmitter coils to troubleshoot this issue.

• iPhones models that support wireless charging include iPhone 8 and iPhone 8 Plus, iPhone X, iPhone XR, iPhone XS, iPhone XS Max, iPhone 11, iPhone 11 Pro, iPhone 11 Pro Max, iPhone 12 and iPhone 12 Pro — basically every iPhone introduced since 2017.
• Keep in mind: Users of the iPhone 12 or iPhone 12 Pro can only access the models’ faster charging speeds of 15W if they purchase a MagSafe brand of charger or a MagSafe-compatible third-party accessory. Without MagSafe capability, the phones will still charge but only at 7.5W speeds with a standard Qi wireless charger.
• Android phones that support wireless charging include Samsung Galaxy S10, Galaxy S10+ and Galaxy S10e; Samsung Galaxy Note 9; Samsung Galaxy S9 and Galaxy S9+; LG G8 ThinQ, G8s ThinQ and V50 ThinQ; LG G7 ThinQ and LG V40 ThinQ; Sony Xperia XZ3 and Sony Xperia XZ2; Nokia 9 PureView; Google Pixel 3 and Pixel 3XL; Huawei Mate 20 Pro; Xiaomi Mi 9 and Mi 9 Explorer; Samsung Galaxy S10 5G; and Google Pixel 4a 5G.
• Most phones and some chargers heat up slightly during the charging process since the devices aren’t 100%  efficient in absorbing and storing the power they are conducting. It usually isn’t worrisome if your smartphone gets slightly warm, but if it automatically shuts down to prevent heat damage, take it off the wireless charging pad immediately and check the manufacturer’s instructions to troubleshoot the issue.