Wireless Charger How Does it Work: Wireless Charging Explained

Wireless charger how does it work – The convenience of wireless charging rapidly makes big tech companies learn and adopt this piece of technology into their products. As a result, most of the current wireless charging has gone to a huge leap compared to when it was first introduced to the public a few years back.

In most flagship smartphones, for example, it has become a rare sight to find one that does not come bundled with this feature due to how convenient it is— especially nowadays when finding a wireless charging dock is easier than ever. However, some might wonder how the wireless charger works considering it technically does not have any form of medium like normal cable does and in this article, we will find the answer to that.

How exactly does wireless charging work?

While there may be several types of wireless charging, most modern smartphones use electromagnetic induction from copper coil to transfer electric energy. To do that, aside from obviously having your smartphone be compatible with wireless charging, you are also required to have a wireless charger that is compatible with your smartphone.

Simply speaking, how this works is to utilise the copper coil between two devices which in this case is the one that is inside your smartphone and your wireless charger. By putting your phone on top of the wireless charger which is usually in the form of a charging pad, the magnetic field then produces electric energy in an enclosed loop when it detects the loops resonate at the same frequency which then enables power transmission between two devices.

Now here comes the question, considering that we need a compatible charger to have a working wireless charging, does this mean that some wireless charging compatible smartphones are not compatible with other wireless chargers? Technically, yes but nowadays it is quite unlikely for it to happen as similar to USB, plenty of manufacturers have now decided to go with one standardised charging technique, which is Qi wireless charging.

What is Qi wireless charging?

Previously, we knew that for two devices to be able to connect with each other, aside from both needing to have a copper coil, it also needs to be in the same frequency loops. The Qi standard ensures that all devices are in that same frequency therefore avoiding the risk of incompatibility.

Most wireless capable devices nowadays use this same standard— even as little as an electric toothbrush. However, there was a time back in 2012 when Apple decided to not follow the global standard rules, resulting in all of its devices being incompatible with most if not all the charging pads available in the market and its users had to buy a wireless charger directly from Apple to make use its wireless charging capability.

Fortunately, Apple has now adopted the Qi standard and for its products later than 2017 is now able to use normal charging pads. 

Does wireless charging affect the battery?

Now, there used to also be a concern that using wireless charging might damage the battery because of the heat generated from the process and this is simply not true. While it might be true that to some extent, a wireless charging method does create a slightly higher heat than wired charging, a Qi-certified wireless charging always comes up with a module that regulates the charging speed to tackle the heat.

A lower energy output generates lower heat which is good for your smartphones but at the same time wireless charging does need to heat up the copper coil inside the phone, therefore giving the impression that it creates more heat. Do note, however, what the charging device heats up is the copper coil and not the battery itself.

Bottom line

With the convenience of wireless charging methods, plenty of big tech companies attempt to learn and adapt this piece of technology into their product. This results in quite a big leap for wireless charging in just a short amount of period.

A wireless charging device requires a copper coil inside it which can be used to transfer electric energy. In addition to that, both devices need to be “in the same frequency” for them to be able to communicate with each other.

Considering there are lots of tech companies out there, it might raise your concern for incompatibility and it was indeed a legitimate concern and the Qi standard was invented for that reason. The Qi standardisation exists to basically guarantee each brand follows the same guideline for their wireless charging technology— ensuring that each device can communicate with each other.