As comfort goes, wi-fi charging can’t be beat. You merely drop your cellphone onto the charger and stroll away. Gone is the headache of managing cables that inevitably break or get misplaced.

Wireless charging has not solely improved as a expertise, nevertheless it’s additionally been adopted by most main cellphone makers, together with Samsung, LG, Sony, Motorola, Google, Huawei, in addition to Apple. If your cellphone helps it, it’s time you pair it with a wi-fi charging stand or pad, so you’ll be able to expertise the profit.

We’ve examined a few of the hottest wi-fi chargers on the market for each Android and iPhone, and picked our favorites from the bunch. Read on for our findings, and examine again periodically for our newest updates.

Updated 11/24/21 to incorporate our evaluation of the Otterbox Folding Wireless Power Bank, a 10,000mAh energy financial institution with two USB ports (one in all which is USB-C), in addition to a Qi wi-fi charging pad in a handy folding design, making it a terrific companion for on-the-go energy wants. Scroll to the underside of this text to search out hyperlinks for all of our wi-fi charger critiques.

The finest wi-fi charger for Android telephones

Anker’s PowerWave 7.5 Stand is our present high decide. It costs sooner on Android than every other pad we examined, seems to be good, and has a stand that makes checking notifications very straightforward. A cooling fan within the base could be loud in a quiet setting, nevertheless it’s not a deal breaker—simply one thing to bear in mind.

The finest wi-fi charger for iPhones

From its enticing material end—produced from hemp and recycled water bottles, no much less—to its versatile type issue that permits you to cost your cellphone upright or susceptible, to its affordable value, we already favored the Nimble Stand. Then we noticed its efficiency! It was the quickest at charging an iPhone of any of the wi-fi chargers we’ve reviewed, and laudable at charging Android as nicely. (Read our full review.)

Best mixture wi-fi charger and cellphone mount

The iOttie iTap 2 Wireless is a intelligent mixture of cellphone mount and wi-fi charger.

In addition to the vent-style mount that we reviewed, it’s additionally accessible as a mount that makes use of the CD slot in your automotive’s stereo or as a touch mount. All three are priced at $55 and are able to wirelessly charging your Qi-enabled smartphone.

The included magnet within the iTap 2 Wireless was sturdy sufficient to carry an iPhone XS Max in place with out concern of it falling whereas driving.

In our checks, its wi-fi charging efficiency ranked common to above common, for iPhone XS Max and Samsung Galaxy S9, respectively, in comparison with different wi-fi chargers we’ve examined.

What to search for in a wi-fi charger

Until just lately, there have been two completely different wi-fi charging requirements that you simply had to concentrate on when buying a wi-fi charging pad: the Power Matters Alliance (PMA) customary, and the Wireless Power Consortium’s Qi customary.

Powermat has since agreed to affix the WPC and embrace the Qi customary. (We’ve famous in our particular person wi-fi charger critiques if it helps the PMA customary, in case you could have an older Android machine that solely helps PMA.) Now you solely have one issue to contemplate when selecting a wi-fi charging pad: Does it help quick charging?

As expertise has developed, so too has the pace at which a cellphone can wirelessly cost. You might want to examine the pace at which your cellphone can wirelessly cost, which is normally given when it comes to 7.5 watts (W), 9W, and even 15W.

Sometimes software program performs a component within the pace. For instance, an iPhone 8, 8 Plus, or X operating iOS 11.2 or later costs at 7.5W, whereas any of the identical iPhones operating iOS 11.1 costs at 5W.

The packaging for many wi-fi chargers will point out its pace. Look for the wattage pace on the field or within the specification itemizing for a charger, then examine that with the pace at which your cellphone can cost.

Do needless to say as quick as wi-fi chargers have grow to be, the included charger for many telephones will probably be your finest guess whenever you’re in a rush and wish as quick a cost as attainable.

How we examined

Android

In order to correctly take a look at and measure how lengthy a wi-fi charger takes to cost a smartphone from 0 to 100 p.c, we adopted the steps under every time we positioned a cellphone on the charging pad. For the preliminary spherical of checks, we used an unlocked Samsung Galaxy S9.

1. We enabled airplane mode on the Galaxy S9 to stop notifications or connections from impacting battery life all through every take a look at.
2. To fully drain the battery on the Galaxy S9, we looped a film in VLC with display screen brightness set to 100 p.c till the cellphone powered off.
3. If a wi-fi charger included its personal energy provide, we used it. If not, we used Samsung’s customary wall adapter and an applicable cable.
4. The cellphone was positioned on a wi-fi charging pad, and a timer was set for 4 minutes (the minimal time required to convey the cellphone again to life throughout all of the pads we examined). After 4 minutes, the cellphone was powered on and unlocked.
5. A time-lapse video was recorded of every charging session utilizing a Wyze Cam, with a photograph captured each 60 seconds.
6. Charge time was calculated by wanting on the video and noting the time when the always-on-display of the Galaxy S9 would register 100%.
7. We repeated the take a look at thrice for every wi-fi charger, then averaged the outcomes.

iPhone

Testing a wi-fi charging pad with an iPhone requires a distinct process than with an Android handset. The iPhone doesn’t have an always-on show function that continuously reveals the present battery share. Because of this we opted to cost our iPhone X for a interval of 60 minutes and measure the achieved charged stage following the steps under:

1. We enabled airplane mode on the iPhone X with a purpose to stop any pointless notifications or connections from impacting battery life all through the take a look at.
2. Using VLC and a show brightness set to 100%, we fully drained the battery till the iPhone X powered off.
3. If a wi-fi charger included its personal energy provide, we used it. If not, we used Samsung’s customary wall adapter and applicable cable.
4. The cellphone was then positioned on a wi-fi charging pad, and a timer was set for 7 minutes (the minimal time required to convey the cellphone again to life throughout all of the pads we examined).
5. At the 7 minute mark, the iPhone could be unlocked after which positioned again on the charging pad. A brand new timer was set for 60 minutes.
6. After the 60 minute timer expired, the cellphone was faraway from the pad and the battery share was recorded.
7. We repeated this course of thrice for every charging pad and averaged the outcomes.

For an approximate ballpark of how lengthy it’ll take to succeed in full cost with an iPhone, you’ll be able to divide 60 (the variety of minutes used for this take a look at) by the proportion outcome listed in every evaluation. So if the result’s a mean cost of 36 p.c in 60 minutes, the soonest {that a} full cost will take is roughly 167 minutes, or 2 hours and 47 minutes.

Keep in thoughts that that is an imprecise estimate: We say “approximate” as a result of it’s attainable for charging to decelerate throughout a full cost.

All of our wi-fi charger critiques

Curious concerning the different choices on the market? Below is an inventory of all of the wi-fi chargers we’ve reviewed. We’ll maintain evaluating new ones regularly, so you should definitely come again to see what else we’ve examined.