The best wireless chargers — What are your choices - Android

There are few things as convenient as dropping your phone on a wireless charging pad to top it off. The sheer convenience of being able to pick up a phone in the middle of a busy workday, taking a call, and plopping it back on the mat can’t be overstated. Now that Qi wireless charging is ubiquitous across high-end devices, there are a wide variety of wireless charging pads available to end-users. No matter your budget, preferred form factor, there is a solution for you. Let’s take a look at the best wireless charging pads and wireless car chargers you can get.

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The best wireless chargers:

1. Aukey Qi-certified wireless charger

Aukey’s Qi-compatible charging pad might be affordable but that doesn’t mean that it is short on features. In fact, it can fast-charge phones all the way up to 10W. This means that most Android phones should be able to take advantage of it.

Unfortunately, the pad does not support the Qi-compatible extended power profile so you won’t be able to enjoy the fastest speeds on your Pixel 4XL. Over on the iPhone side of things, charging speeds top off at 7.5W.

The design of the charger is simple enough and Aukey claims that it should be able to charge the phone through cases as thick as 3mm. Couple that with the overcharge protection and you are clearly getting a lot for your money. In fact, I’d purchase a bunch of them to place around the house.

2. Yootech wireless charger

Functionally, the Yootech wireless charger is nearly identical to the Aukey wireless charging pad. The pad supports three different charging speeds and can switch between them based on the device placed on it.

For plain-old Qi hardware, the Yootech wireless charging pad can output as high as 5W. With Apple’s iPhones, it can go as high as 7.5W. Finally, with Samsung’s fast-charging compatible hardware, the Yootech enables 10W charging support. Unlike the Aukey wireless charging pad, the Yootech bumps things up with support for USB Type-C which is a highly welcome addition.

3. Anker PowerWave wireless charger

The Anker PowerWave wireless charger is pretty similar to the other affordable wireless charging pad offerings other than one key difference. The pad sits at an angle and lets you view the phone’s display while charging it.

With Samsung hardware, the pad even enabled fast wireless charging to the tune of 10W. Meanwhile, it is as good as the best wireless chargers available for the iPhone and is capable of topping it off at 7.5W. As a bonus, the charging pad is compatible with cases up to 5mm thick. Not bad.

The Anker PowerWave wireless charger is relatively affordable, though you will have to splurge on an AC adapter separately.

4. Samsung Fast Charge 2.0 Wireless Charger stand

If you are using a recent Samsung phone like the Galaxy Note 10+ or the Galaxy S20-series, you will want to get your hands on a first-party Samsung wireless charger.

Supporting Fast Charge 2.0, the Samsung fast wireless charging pad lets you top off your phone at up to 15W on supported devices. Additionally, the angled pad works out great if you want to glance at the screen while the phone is charging. If your phone doesn’t support fast charging, the wireless charging pad falls back to standard Qi charging speeds.

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The Samsung Fast Charge 2.0 wireless charging pad ends up being a bit more expensive than our other options, but support for fast charging as well as an included wall charger makes up for it.

5. Anker PowerWave 10 Dual wireless charging pad