It’s 2018 and more and more phones are supporting wireless charging. iPhone 8. iPhone 8 plus, iPhone X, Samsung Galaxy Note 8 and Galaxy S8 are just a few of the major smartphone flagships released just last year that support wireless charging.
Wireless charging is definitely the future. But how does it work? How does electric current move from the wall socket to your battery without wire connection? Here’s how it works.
Remember magnetic induction? I’ll take you back to child hood when we used to make a coil out of copper wire and put a nail inside the coil. Then connect the two ends of the copper wire to a battery’s terminals and this would create a magnetic field around the coil.
Wireless chargers work the same way but in reverse. There is some kind of coil in all wireless enabled smartphones and devices. The coil is connected to the phone’s battery. When the phone is placed on the Wireless charger, the wireless charger creates a magnetic field inside the phone. The coil inside then converts this magnetic energy into electrical energy that charges your battery.
Wireless Charging standards:
There are various wireless charging standards and you need to know which one your phone supports so that you can get the right wireless charger for your smartphone. Some standards like Qi use magnetic resonance. It’s basically similar to magnetic induction but it allows more than one device on the charger. It also allows devices to charge without being in direct contact with the wireless charger.
iPhones’ wireless charging supports the Qi standard. Samsung devices support both Qi and Powermat wireless charging standards.
For all standards, the general concept is the same. Electromagnetic induction. Your smartphone must have the hardware to have wireless charging.
If your phone doesn’t support wireless charging, you can add support for wireless charging with a special phone case or wireless charging adapter that you stick on the back of your phone and plug into its power port. The case or adapter will convert the magnetic energy from the wireless charger into electrical energy and charge your smartphone through the charging port.