After years of waiting and when almost all high-end models included it, Apple finally decided to incorporate wireless charging to its devices. The iPhone 8, 8 Plus and X joined the list of devices compatible with the Qi standard, the most widely used by manufacturers of mobile phones and charging accessories. They had previously tested the Apple Watch, which used similar technology but not compatible with unofficial chargers.
But as is often the case with everything Apple touches, controversy is always served. If before it was criticized for not giving the possibility of using this technology, now it is criticized because that technology is harmful to the battery of our devices. Opinions, tests of all kinds, guesses ... the fact is that the idea that wireless charging is not good is becoming more and more widespread, and that is not at all clear. We tell you the opinions of the experts.
Against wireless charging
All of this has started with an article of ZDNet that one of our chat members from Telegram has shared with the whole group. In it, in case you do not want to read it in English, the editor of the article assures that after several months using wireless charging You have found that your iPhone's charge cycles have increased more than if you had used cable charging. Based on the fact that Apple ensures that the batteries of our devices are designed to last with good performance for about 500 cycles, the author considers that when using wireless charging, the life of our batteries will be reduced by reaching those 500 charge cycles earlier. .
The theory they argue in the article is that "While with cable charging the iPhone is powered directly by the energy that comes through it, with wireless charging it does so through the battery". It is a statement that just after reading it generated many doubts. Without having the necessary technical knowledge to be able to decide if this is the case or not, it does seem strange to me that this happens, especially when the writer of the article does not explain on what he bases that statement, a detail that would have been very important to support his hypothesis. By relying on a purely personal experience, any technical data that supported that statement would have served to give more credibility to your article.
Searching the Internet for information about this, I found a very interesting article in ComputerWorld in which they precisely mention this ZDNet article, and in which they assure that after contacting the iFixit experts, the answer they got is that the author's results and conclusions are "very unscientific", ensuring that the degradation of the batteries depends on the use we give them, not the charging method we use.
What really wears down our battery
This is a very interesting debate and in which not all experts agree 100%, but after reading articles on this topic, we can conclude that most agree on two elements as the most responsible for the degradation of your battery. device: charge the battery up to 100% and maintain it at maximum and perform full charge and discharge cycles or vice versa. These two habits that many people usually do are the ones that really damage the battery, as long as we make normal use. There are other aggressive agents such as high temperatures, humidity, etc., but we count on using our device correctly and with certified chargers and cables.
Charging the device up to 100% and keeping it with that charge is one of the greatest aggressions that we can carry out on our battery, according to the experts. But we should not worry, because the load management systems that the devices have have improved a lot precisely to be able to correct this problem. "When a device shows us that it is 100% charged, we really don't know what percentage of charge it actually has". This is stated by Dan Steingart, associate professor in the Department of Aerospace Engineering at Princeton University, in an article published in Medium. Device manufacturers set their charge management systems to minimize this problem, striking a balance between having the battery fully charged and doing the least damage to it. How do they achieve this? Just because your iPhone is connected to the charger, either through a cable or a wireless base, does not mean that it is continuously charging.
The other most damaging aggression for our batteries is to carry out complete discharges, from maximum to minimum, or vice versa. Yes, what before they told us that it was the best way to take care of our phone battery now turns out to be a very harmful activity that greatly reduces the average life of the battery. This is stated by Menno Treffers, from the Wireless Power Consortium, who assures that although the charging cycles are classically those that have defined the average life of a battery, carrying out charging cycles from 50% of the battery makes its life longer, even up to four times more than if the cycles are complete. That is to say, If we do not let our iPhone discharge below 50%, the battery will last us in optimal conditions for longer..
Wireless charging makes it easy to take care of your battery
Wireless charging is very comfortable, although it has drawbacks such as not being able to use the device during recharging or taking longer than wired chargers. There are wireless chargers in many coffee shops and entertainment centers, since you don't have to worry about whether your device is iPhone or Android, if it has a Lightning, microUSB or USB-C connector. In addition, the connector is not damaged by inserting and removing the plug, and allows you to use waterproof covers and be able to charge the device at the same time. Arriving in the room at night and not having to search in the dark for the cable and the iPhone hole is also a detail to take into account.
But if we also pay attention to what the experts we have mentioned say, wireless charging helps to always have our iPhone with an almost full charge. You arrive at work and place the iPhone on the base, you take it if you need it, you go, you get to the car and place it on the base that many models already incorporate, at home you leave it on the side table in the living room, on your coffee table. night ... If we pay attention to the fact that it is good to always have the battery above 50%, wireless chargers are ideal for it.
Something very important is to use reliable chargers. If you don't want to spend the cost of an Apple certified charger, such as the Belkin or Mophie, you can always turn to recognized brands such as Xtorm or similar. Something that degrades current batteries a lot is the high temperature. Quality foundations control this, but those cheap foundations that can be had at ridiculous prices can give you problems.. You should not worry that your iPhone is hot when you remove it from the base, it is normal, the outside temperature may be high but not the internal one. Using a brand with recognized quality is always a guarantee that makes it worth spending a little more on an accessory that is not going to last a long time and we will use it on a daily basis.
First of all, enjoy your device
Regardless of your preferences and how you use your device, the most important thing is to enjoy it. Buying something to be a slave to him is absurd, and suffering from how and when you charge your device is absurd. Putting ourselves in the worst case scenario and that we have to change the battery of our iPhone after two years ... Is it really worth having been enslaved by drums during that time? An official battery change at Apple costs € 89, in an unofficial center much less. Personally, I prefer to invest my time and effort in other tasks rather than in suffering from my battery.
Thanks for the article Luis. Above all for going to real experts with proven tests and not just sensations ...
regards
Good article, and good conclusion, which I share in every way. We do not have high-end mobiles to lock them in a box and put them in a drawer. As long as easily replaceable things are degrading ... it is not worth not giving it the use that we really want to give it.
I won't find out from a post, sorry. Everyone is free
Awesome article. 10/10. It shows that you write with pleasure and it is a pleasure to read you.
Very good article, all my life thinking otherwise. You no longer know who to pay attention to. So should I charge my Apple Watch every night?
Greetings to the entire team actualidad iPhone
That is, the best thing for lithium batteries is to spend the least time possible at the extremes (below 10% and above 95%).
Very good article, precisely with the wireless charging, access to the charge will be facilitated at any time of the day and the battery will be in almost all cases above 50% avoiding full charges and discharges, which as you say, is what affects the most to the life of this component. About the ZDnet article, the one who writes it cannot affirm things that are not true, because the receiving coil of the wireless charge that is inside any Qi compatible phone is not connected directly to the battery but to a pcdb, just like the lightning connector does!
excellent article thank you very much completely agree with your opinion.
I love this page and its comments, the battery degradation and its obsession is given to us by the drop in performance that Apple did to its processors when health declined.
Lately I'm worried because I bought a second iPhone x with a life percentage of 90% and 400 cycles for 400 euros, if I had to change the battery for 89 euros in a 1300 phone when it came out, what would you suppose if I have a cucumber even though the iphone 11 is already there? they have put that fear into us with batteries.
I had a Note 3 and I had to change the official battery every 6 months. € 25 Apple lasts from two to 3 years.
Greetings to those who make this post and especially to those who do the podcas and say that Nacho is not the same since he removed the Christ from his room. hahaha greetings people !!!
Very useful and practical
Good afternoon, I have a question and I would like to know if you can provide me with an answer. I want to know if it is advisable to always let the device charge 100%, that is, let's say I have it at 70%, is it better to let it reach 100% or is it preferable to remove it in a lower percentage? And I do not mean only the Iphone but also the Apple watch.
Apple already included a system that avoids precisely that without you having to do anything. Both the iPhone, the Apple Watch and the AirPods have this system that protects the battery.