Josh Hendrickson
Although it had a rocky beginning, we love OnePlus phones now. When you buy one, you get 90% of the features you’ll find in most $1,000 phones for a little over half the cost. That’s why we call the OnePlus 7T the best value in smartphones. But, you do give up a few luxury features like wireless charging. Now there’s hope that change is on the horizon.
You don’t need wireless charging. It’s a luxury feature that saves you a few seconds of fumbling and charges your phone more slowly. Once you have it, though, it’s not easy to give up. I can say that personally, as I moved from phones with wireless charging to a OnePlus 7T months ago. Sometimes I still try to place it on one of the charging pads in my home.
And just because you can live without wireless charging doesn’t mean it’s not a great feature. So if you’re a fellow OnePlus fan, there’s some interesting news for you.
As first spotted by Mobilescout, OnePlus recently joined the Wireless Power Consortium. That’s the first step most companies take before integrating wireless charging into phones. Apple made the same move in late 2017, and seven months later, it released its first phones to feature wireless charging (the iPhone 8 and 8 Plus).
Rumors that OnePlus might add wireless charging to the OnePlus 8 Pro have been swirling for a while now, starting with a now-famous tweet featuring a mockup.
Charge like a pro. pic.twitter.com/Fqnkpsa0mT
— Max Jambor (@MaxJmb) January 21, 2020
But the tweet doesn’t mention OnePlus by name, and that’s a Samsung wireless charging graphic. Furthermore, OnePlus’s CEO, Pete Lau, dashed our hopes shortly after saying that OnePlus’s were better off sticking with wired charging:
What we’ve been focused on is bringing fast wireless charging and that fast charging experience to wireless. The issue to overcome, though, is the heat in that process, so that’s very much what we’ve been focused on — trying to create a solution for. I’ve tried 10W charging for wireless and I can’t get used to it. I feel like it’s too slow and it’s just not worth it compared to plugging it in to Warp Charge and that fast charging experience.
Still, the rumors have persisted, and the company joining the Wireless Power Consortium fuels that hope (and our desires).
Joining the Wireless Power Consortium doesn’t guarantee the next OnePlus phones will have wireless charging. Or that the company will ever offer wireless charging. But it does make that outcome far more likely. Only time will tell, and we’ll be there to tell you if and when it happens.
via Mobilescout
