While a few companies might be reluctant to include wireless charging in their phones, it’s definitely here to stay, and Belkin has two more to add.
With the iPhone 8, 8 Plus, iPhone X, and Samsung’s latest phones all sporting wireless charge technology, you can pretty much say with a certainty that wireless charging is here for good, but now it just needs the chargers to be more commonplace.
For those who don’t know, wireless charging tends to rely on a standard called “Qi”, and while Apple has made some tweaks to help push Qi into the next generation, it’s more or less the same standard it has always been.
That means that older phones — like those from Microsoft and Nokia that supported the technology way back when — still work with it, as do the cases that came out with it, but the more modern chargers will work more efficiently to charge newer phones.
And more modern chargers are what’s coming from Belkin, with two more on the way for folks who might have a wirelessly charged phone or a wirelessly charged phone case, and are keen to see what the future is like when you don’t have to plug the phone in to give it a chart.
The new products are the Boost Up Wireless Charging Stand and Bold Wireless Charging Pad, both of which saw the light of day back at CES earlier in the year and are quite similar, with one lying flat and the other standing up.
Both can charge up to 10 watts dependent upon what the device can take — some phones will only take 5 or 7 watts, so are based on their specifications — and can charge through most cases up to 3mm thick.
If you have a recent phone with wireless charging, your phone is supported, including the likes of the Samsung Galaxy S8, S8+, Galaxy S9, S9+, Galaxy Note 8, and the upcoming Note 9, as well as the three iPhones released last year.
That said, we expect most phones with glass or plastic backs to arrive with wireless charging, and if it doesn’t, expect a case to add the technology, or hope it would.
If your phone doesn’t have support for wireless charging, check to see if there’s a case that can bring it, as it will mean cables can go bye-bye.
Meanwhile, Belkin’s Boost Up Wireless Charging Pad and Wireless Charging Stand should be found now for $99.95 and $109.95 respectively, available from the likes of Harvey Norman, JB HiFi, and other retailers across the country.
