For most people with a smartphone, maintaining sufficient battery life throughout the day is almost always paramount. Having said that, most cellphone users like to fit in charging when convenient, which is why many people don’t carry tethered chargers as regularly as they do their devices. Many consumers and industry experts are hoping the method of wireless charging can help ease the burdens of people constantly worrying about their battery percentage. Wireless charging is a pretty straightforward concept for the most part. If your smartphone is equipped with a special case or battery, you simply rest the device on top of the charging bad without any additional attachments.
Wireless charging isn’t a new concept, and has actually been around for several years. Having said that, it’s one that most people don’t quite understand. The technology enabling the cellphone battery to regenerate by having it rest on the pad seems more complicated than conventional tethered chargers (at least from a technical standpoint), and can confuse people trying to understand. Especially with companies like Apple bringing this technology to their newer phone models, it’s inevitably going to grow in popularity.
Although there are a few different wireless charging methods, the one we’re going to focus on is Qi charging (namely since Apple is adopting this style). Qi utilizes inductive charging technology, which is relatively easy to set up. Despite its commercial popularity (it’s used by thousands of public locations worldwide in hotels, airports, restaurants, manufacturers, etc.) one question that consumers and industry experts have asked is how wireless charging will affect a device’s battery, something that’s raised concern.
Industry experts say it’s a bad idea to keep your phone fully charged all the time, regardless of using wired or wireless charging. Although you can’t overcharge a cellphone battery, keeping its power levels at the maximum 100 percent will expedite degradation. The best way to explain the charging process is that a cellphone’s lithium-ion battery charges by passing ions between a positive and negative electrode. The positive electrode releases lithium ions that move to the negative electrode, which are stored as energy. While the battery discharges, ions move back to the positive side, which creates electricity. The electrolyte serving as a medium for the ongoing exchange of ions degrades as time progresses. In addition, the more the battery is charged, the electrolyte mentioned earlier degrades faster, a situation that is the same for both wired and wireless charging.
Some believe wireless charging can hasten the decline of a cellphone battery, and the inductive coils used in wireless charging make use of the lithium-ion battery to make sure the phone stays on while placed on the charging pad. When it comes to wired charging however, this responsibility lies on the cord. For industry experts however, there is concern that while the battery may normally decrease as the number for the recharge cycle boosts, battery lifetime experiences a four-time increase when the amount of battery drained, is held at about 50 percent. Ideally, if you don’t let your cellphone drain below 50 percent and top the battery life off throughout the day, your battery may last longer.
Smartphone batteries in models like the iPhone 8 and X are designed to maintain about 80 percent of their recharge capacity at 500 complete recharge cycles, which most people seem to get from their devices over 2-3 years. Your charging habits very much determine how long your smartphone battery goes for, but with the rate we’re seeing new phones hit the market, 2-3 years is probably more than enough time. It’s ultimately the consumer’s choice whether they decide to utilize wireless charging, but as Qi charging continues to become more relevant, more people will start trying this technique out to decide for themselves.
