Best
Qi Wireless Charging Portable Chargers
Android Central
2020
Wireless PowerShare is a cool gimmick on stage for devices like the Galaxy S10, but in practicality, you’re sacrificing your phone’s battery to recharge your headphones, smartwatch, or another phone. It’s far, far easier to just buy a power bank that supports Qi wireless charging for all of your accessories and Qi-enabled phones. While Qi power banks aren’t quite as popular as traditional power banks, there is still a good variety to choose from right now.
Staff pick
Aukey’s Wireless Power Bank is the same physical size as its popular 10,000mAh power bank, but it shaves off a fifth of the capacity to make room for a Qi charging coil. This is a trade-off I’m more than willing to live with in order to get an affordable name-brand Qi bank.
It’s great to have a few OtterSpot Qi batteries to swap around and use on the fly, but building up that system is going to cost you big. The base system comes with one charging base and one portable OtterSpot battery.
When it’s at home, this phone-sized charging pad works just like any other. When you unplug it, it turns into a 10,000mAh power bank that you can use to charge your phone wirelessly or wired while out on the road. It’s available in silver and pink.
This super-small 10,000mAh power bank from Hokonui is easy to slip in your pocket and get going. It also supports 18W Power Delivery charging through the USB-C port for input and output, as well as sporting a QC 3.0 USB-A port.
Mophie is known for its battery cases, but it’s also recognized the value of a battery booster that you don’t have to keep stuck to your phone at all times. This 10,000mAh battery gets dinged for still using Micro-USB instead of USB-C, but this name-brand battery pack will easily charge your phone wirelessly or wired.
This portable battery may only be 5,000mAh and its USB-C port may only be for input charging rather than output, but this bank is high quality and high-class, with a lovely heather grey fabric covering the front. Use it on the go or leave it plugged in as a nightstand Qi charger.
Wirelessly charging your phone is still worse than wired charging
Wireless charging by its very nature will lose more power during the charging process than regular wired charging. Qi charging has a lower transfer efficiency, so more energy is lost generating the wireless charging current than would be lost through wired charging, and it will be slower than wired charging on almost any wireless charger on a power bank today. That’s just how the science involved here works. That said, charging with a Qi bank rather than a wire sticking out of your pocket or tangling around your desk can be a very beneficial thing, especially on the go.
On the note of pocket charging, wireless charging generates heat, so if you intend to slap your phone on a wireless charger in your pocket you need to be mindful of that heat and its possible buildup. You should also make sure the phone stays properly aligned on your power bank instead of sliding around and charging nothing.
This is still an emerging space
We have some Qi power banks from traditional power players like Mophie’s Powerstation Wireless Charger, and more mainstream names are finally in the portable Qi game. The Aukey 8,000mAh Wireless Power Bank is the best blend of compactness and capacity while keeping things affordable, but there’s also options from Samsung and OtterBox that perform well.
Meanwhile, Moshi is a smaller capacity but also a smaller, more premium look, which makes it great for travelers looking for a power bank that will draw the right kind of attention during that four-hour boardroom meeting during your business conference.
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