Recognition: Robert Triggs / Android Authority
Wireless charging has been a popular option for flagship phones for years, and there are definitely supporters of the charging standard out there. Charging speeds are traditionally not as fast as wired charging, but the convenience of driving wirelessly is certainly an asset.
That got us thinking about whether our audience is using more wired charging or wireless charging. We released this poll on April 20th and here is how you voted in it.
Do you prefer wired or wireless charging more?
Results
At the time of writing, a total of 2,679 votes were cast, which gives us a decent sample size. And it turns out that most of the readers surveyed (~ 70.9%) prefer wired charging more than wireless charging. The comments suggest that energy efficiency and charging speeds were the main reasons for using wired charging.
There is still a decent proportion of respondents (~ 29.1%) who prefer wireless charging as their preferred charging method. Reasons cited by commentators are the convenience factor (just place the phone on the charger) and less wear and tear on the charging port.
For what it’s worth, we’re seeing wireless charging have seen big gains in speed over the past year or two. Devices like the Xiaomi Mi 11 Ultra (67 W), the Huawei Mate 40 Pro (50 W) and the OnePlus 9 Pro (50 W) offer speeds that correspond to ultra-fast wired charging solutions. So expect speed to be less of a differentiator compared to previous years.
Remarks
- Shizuma: Always wired, tried wireless on multiple phones, and it’s awful, it’s very slow and fussy, so more time is spent than just plugging in a cable, even in the days of micro USB ports.
- mejustsayin: If the phone doesn’t offer wireless charging, it won’t be available. I forgot to plug in the cable all the time and always had a dead phone. Finally a wireless charger that I put where I always leave the phone and the phone is always charged. A few years later, I never use a cord except for emergency charging when I’m on the go.
- Healthy: I used to prefer wireless charging, but then noticed the phone got very hot at times, so I stopped wireless charging because I didn’t want to ruin my battery.
- Ski Marterking: I’ve always used Wired as I use the phone most of the time while it’s charging. Also because I don’t like how wasteful and inefficient wireless charging is.
- Tony Talks: I’m more inclined to wired charging (mostly because I’m used to it), but I use wireless charging about a third of the time.
- David Yastrab: I use WiFi. Seems like it causes less wear and tear on the USB port and is cool. But I’m afraid I’ll miss the right spot on the pad and find out hours later that I’m still running out of battery from trying to move the phone.
- Drone9: Nobody in my country uses wireless charging. It is slow and you cannot consume media / games while it is charging. Also, it’s easier to carry the adapter in a bag, hang it on a wall in a public place for 10 minutes, and drink half a day of juice.
That’s it for our wired / wireless charging survey results. What do you think of these results and the question? Let us know through the comments section.