Are wireless chargers really useful or just a marketing gimmick?

Besides getting bigger, smartphones keep getting — for lack of a better word — glassier. From front to back, the bodies of many of the newest smartphones are composed of glass.

The trend is not part of a broad conspiracy to make you shatter your phone so that you buy a new one. Instead, glass lets energy pass through the phone so that it can be charged wirelessly. The technology relies on magnetic induction, which involves using an electrical current to generate a magnetic field, creating voltage that powers the phone without your plugging a wire into it.

Many people are excited about charging without cords. A study by SurveyMonkey found that wireless charging was the most anticipated feature in last year’s new iPhones. Yet in a survey by the research firm IHS, only 29 per cent said they used wireless charging last year.

That may be because wireless charging isn’t truly wireless. People typically need accessories from companies like Samsung, Mophie and Anker — which generally look like mats and stands that you can set your phone on — to wirelessly power up. And while you don’t have to plug a cable into the phone, the accessories themselves have to be hooked up to a power outlet. Readmore