Are Wireless Car Chargers Universal for All Smartphones?
If you’re looking forward to purchasing a wireless car charger, it would be best to learn about the compatibility first. The advantage of wireless charging is that you get to boost your device while evading annoying cables. This also helps to reduce the number of distractions you’d be getting on the road while driving. You only lift and drop to take your phone and charge it respectively.
Most of the flagship brands hitting the market right now have the wireless charging provision. Others need an adapter for them to work or to be compatible. So, that brings about the word compatibility. Not all phones can work on your wireless car charger. They have to be compatible with it for any current to pass.
How a Wireless Car Charger Works
Before going deeper into compatibility, it would help if we start by analyzing how a wireless car charger works first. Your smartphone has a receiver induction coil that’s made of copper.
The wireless car charger on your dashboard has a copper transmitter coil. When you place your device on the wireless car charger, the transmitter coil generates an electromagnetic field. The receiver on your smartphone then converts this electromagnetic field into electricity, which the phone battery uses to charge. This is what scientists term as electromagnetic induction.
The reason why a wireless car charger can’t work currently over long distance is because of the copper receiver and transmitter coils. They are too small to support wireless charging over a distance. However, as technology is advancing, it won’t be a surprise to see this change. In fact, it’s only a matter of time before we witness a wireless car charger that charges your phone even from several meters.
Again, it’s important to note that a wireless car charger isn’t entirely wireless, as you still have to plug it into the USB port. Again, technology will most likely change this by introducing a wireless car charger that can operate without cables – completely.
Compatibility with a Wireless Car Charger
Now comes the part you’ve been waiting for. The question on compatibility circles around the standard of wireless charging. Qi is the standard for wireless charging, brought about by the wireless power consortium, WPC. Qi is a Chinese word meaning energy flow, and it’s pronounced as ‘Chee.’
The Qi wireless charging standard is the primary standard that big brands use when manufacturing wirelessly charging devices. Even big names in the industry, such as Apple and Samsung, use it.
Note that Qi is not the only wireless charging standard in the entire industry – there are several others. Coke is not the only soft drink in the world, but it’s the most popular one. Just in the same manner, Qi has overtaken all of the other wireless charging standards to become the most popular and widely used one.
More About the Qi Wireless Charging Standard
Qi works in the same way as other wireless charging technologies. It’s already compatible with most brands in the industry, including some of the big names. Samsung and iPhone are the latest to jump on the Qi wireless charging bandwagon.
Newer brands and models coming into the industry will equally have to conform to the Qi standard. In fact, most of them already are. Therefore, a smartphone can only charge on a wireless car charger if they are compatible. Hence, they both have to use the Qi wireless charging technology, or any other.
Provided your device and the wireless car charger support the same standard, all is well. But if they don’t, worry not, as you can use adapters instead. The myth that the smartphone and wireless car charger have to be from the same manufacturer to work together is misplaced and misleading. It doesn’t matter if the wireless car charger is from FIORA, while the phone from Samsung. The only determinant is the charging standard.
Does a Phone Case Affect Charging on a Wireless Car Charger
Some phone cases are too thick to support charging on a wireless car charger. Such cases include wallet cases that block the electromagnetic current from passing. However, normal cases won’t interfere with your phone’s charging capability. Such include cases made from leather, rubber, plastic, and silicon.
How effective is a Wireless Car Charger?
The reality is that at the moment, a wireless car charger doesn’t yet beat the typical wired charger in terms of speed. However, this is only for the meantime, as things are set to change with time. Technology is a rolling stone that gathers no moss.
Can a wireless car charger damage my battery? This is a common question people ask. And the simple answer to it is no. All rechargeable batteries begin to degrade after clocking certain charging cycles. A charging cycle is the number of times that the battery runs from nil to 100 or partially from nil to let’s say 50. However, wireless charging may increase the number of charging cycles in a way. And this is the only argument that can win against them in terms of battery degradation.
Final Thoughts
As you can see, so long as your phone is compatible with the Qi wireless charging standard on your wireless car charger, they can work fine. It doesn’t matter if the brands are different or anything else is different at all.
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