Wireless is the Way!

I’m a nerd. Yep, I know that’s a shocker. And, in retrospect, I’ve been one for as long as I can remember. I got my first laptop in 1998, my first PDA in 2001, and so on, in a nearly unbroken line up to the present day. Throughout my time, I’ve seen many changes in the mobile space. Brands had their rise and fall, trends came and went, but throughout it all, one thing remained constant. For as long as I can remember, every single device I had, with the exception of my two Palm PDAs, had its own proprietary charger. If you haven’t lived through it, you’ve probably never known that very special type of panic that springs from your phone running on fumes and that one very specific cable that you need being nowhere to be found. I’ve gotten more than one grey hair thanks to this very special type of panic.

Thankfully, as time moved on into the early and then mid 2010s, most manufacturers seemed to somewhat come to their senses, and slowly, first micro-USB and then USB-C emerged as quasi charging standard. However, not all manufacturers were onboard with that move, with my former employer, Apple, being one of the most vocal holdouts. Plus ça change… It took a decisive move from Brussels to finally put an end to this nonsense, at least for mobile devices. After a lengthy deliberation process, the EU finally came to the same conclusion that this whole charging cable situation was very silly indeed and decided to put an end to it, with all new mobile devices sold from the end of 2024 having to charge via USB-C. Laptops get a grace period until 2026, but they’re not the focus of this post. 

For now, I’m concentrating on smartphones, such as my Galaxy Z Flip 5. And honestly, as far as I’m concerned, this move is long overdue and the resistance from certain tech companies is hypocritical in the extreme. Apple in particular would have been well-served to wind their neck in, given that they effectively forced USB-C on the world back in 2016, when they decided to eliminate very other type of port from their MacBooks. Most of my gadgets and storage devices already use USB-C, with only my Amazon Kindle and my beloved Bang & Olufsen headphones still being micro-USB holdouts. This standardisation will make life a whole lot easier for a lot of consumers.

Having said that, I still can’t help but feel like this whole endeavour is a giant step sideways. Don’t get me wrong, I certainly don’t advocate a return to the pesky plurality of proprietary plugs present in the past, but even the move to USB-C will not eliminate the veritable snake’s nests of charging cables found in drawers, cabinets, backpacks or a multitude of other locations. Rather, I believe that the future of charging is wireless.

Charging a device without a cable is the way forward in my eyes!

This is not a new concept by any stretch of the imagination. The theoretical basis and first prototypes were developed all the way back in the 1970s, and the concept has been present in science fiction for just as long. How do you think the ubiquitous PADDs, Tricorders and other gadgets in the Star Trek universe are charged? Even in the mobile sphere, wireless charging isn’t new. All the way back in 2009, portable device pioneer Palm introduced the concept to the world in the shape of the Touchstone charger for its revolutionary, and tragic, Palm Pre series of smartphones. This was a whole year before Qi, the current standard for wireless charging, was codified. 

It was Apple’s combination of a Qi wireless charging coil with magnets around it under the guis of MagSafe that really pushed wireless charging into the mainstream.

Ironically, it was Apple that pushed wireless charging into the mainstream when it introduced its own semi-proprietary charging standard on the iPhone X back in 2017. This standard, the confusingly named MagSafe, would be the onramp for this particular gadget hound when I got myself an iPhone XR. Meanwhile, the more generally accepted Qi standard has become commonplace on many mid-range and flagship phones, as well as some smartwatches and even the charging cases of some true wireless earbuds. I myself operate mostly wireless these days, with a MagSafe/Qi compatible power bank as well as charging pads throughout my home. It just offers so many advantages.

For starters, it massively cuts down on clutter. I’m not the most well-organised person by any stretch of the imagination, so the ability to just drop my device on any of the charging pads in my home without having to find either a charger or a free USB port is a massive plus. Equally, if not more crucially, I do have a tendency to trip over things, and having wireless charging pads just allows me to route cables far away from any danger areas. It also drastically reduces the risk of tearing out charging plugs if I do manage to knock over a phone since there isn’t any physical connection. Recharging “on the go” is significantly easier as well, as I can just drop my phone onto my power bank, and it will charge. Finally, though perhaps most obscurely, there’s the security aspect, the angle that got me to start on the notes for this post. Every now and then, the spectre of “juice jacking” shows up in tech or mainstream media, the use of compromised USB charging cables or chargers to infect a phone with malware. This attack vector does not seem to be as widespread as one might expect given the breathless reporting on some website, but wireless charging effectively eliminates this vector anyway since there is no direct physical connection to the device.

As convenient as it is to simply drop your phone onto a wireless charging pad, the speeds can be glacial, especially when the power bank can only put out 5 watts of wireless charging.

That’s not to say that there are no downsides. For starters, even with the Qi wireless charging standard, there are still different and at times incompatible charging standards. Not every charging pad will work with every phone or device. For example, my desk lamp has an integrated Qi charging pad, but it still wouldn’t charge my AirPods Pro and refuses to charge my Galaxy Z Flip 5, the only one of my charging pads to have this issue. My new Mophie power bank meanwhile does charge my phone but does so much slower than my old Anker 622 used to. That’s despite the fact that both devices are Qi and MagSafe compatible. It can’t charge my Galaxy Watch either, despite the fact that my phone is easily able to do so using wireless power sharing and its built-in Qi coil.

On the other hand, the ability to wirelessly top up your smartwatch using your phone is not just convenient, but it has been a lifesaver for me!

Speaking of speed, wireless charging is definitely slower than wired charging, significantly so. Even my high-powered 15W wireless charging pads at home take a whole lot longer to charge my phone than even a standard USB-C charger. I suspect that the issue of the excess heat produced during the induction charging process has something to do with it, which is actually another downside of wireless charging. There is quite a bit of excess heat produced when you charge your devices wirelessly. Now, I’m someone who generally prefers to have his device run cool, so I may be overly sensitive in this regard, but I definitely feel like devices I take off my wireless chargers tend to be significantly warmer than devices I charge via cable. Those get too warm for my taste too though.

Irish Rail has recently introduced wireless charging pads on its 1st class coaches between Dublin and Cork. You can see the pad just left of my iPad.

Even with these downsides though, I’ve still fully embraced the wireless charging lifestyle, and Qi compatibility is a key factor in deciding which device I’ll buy. And it looks like at least some other people agree. On a recent trip to Dublin, I noticed that Irish Rail had begun to introduce wireless charging pads in their refurbished 1st Class coaches on the Dublin-Cork line, something I absolutely hadn’t expected, it which was all the more welcome. Other railway companies throughout Europe are doing likewise. Following the proliferation of USB ports throughout public spaces, I think that these wireless pads are the next logical step. Apple’s MagSafe helped massively in making wireless charging mainstream and the new Qi2 charging standard that is being rolled out will massively help in closing the feature gap between iPhones and the rest of the world.

Ultimately, the utility of wireless charging will depend on how many devices will adopt it. But the convenience of just dropping your phone or earbuds onto a charging pad, without having to rummage around for cables, is unmatched.

At the end of the day, the biggest thing about wireless charging however is the pure convenience. At night, rather than hunting for a cable, I just drop my phone onto its wireless charger. It’s the same if I need to top up the battery anywhere else in my place. Oh, and if my watch needs a top-up while I’m at work or out and about, once again, I can easily do it wirelessly. It’s one of the clearest indications yet that we’re indeed living in the future, and I can’t wait to see when wireless charging makes the jump to larger devices like e-readers and tablets. That would really make my nerd heart sing!