Best Cordless Phone Chargers 2021: Reviews and Buying Tips

When it comes to convenience, the wireless charging can’t be beat. Just put your phone on the charger and walk away. Gone is the headache of managing cables that inevitably break or get lost.

Wireless charging has not only improved as a technology, it has also been adopted by most of the major phone manufacturers, including Samsung, LG, Sony, Motorola, Google, Huawei, and Apple. If your phone supports it, it’s time you pair it with a wireless charging pad or stand, so you can experience the benefits.

We’ve tested some of the most popular wireless chargers out there for both Android and iPhone, picking our favorites from the bunch. Read on for our findings and check back regularly for our latest updates.

Updated 11/24/21 to include our review of the Otterbox Foldable Wireless Power Bank, a 10,000 mAh power bank with two USB ports (one of which is USB-C), as well as a Qi wireless charging pad in a convenient foldable design, making it a great companion for power needs moving. Scroll to the end of this article to find links to all of our wireless charger reviews.

Best Wireless Charger for Android Phones

The Anker PowerWave 7.5 mount is our current top pick. It loads faster on Android than any other pad we tested, looks good, and has a stand that makes it easy to check notifications. A cooling fan on the base can be loud in a quiet environment, but it’s not a deal breaker, just something to consider.

Best Wireless Charger for iPhone

From its attractive cloth finish, made from recycled hemp and water bottles, no less, to its flexible form factor that allows you to charge your phone upright or upside down, at its reasonable price, we already liked the Nimble stand. Then we saw their performance! It was the fastest to charge an iPhone of all the wireless chargers we’ve reviewed, and it was also laudable for charging Android. (Read our full review.)

The best combination of wireless charger and phone holder

The iOttie iTap 2 Wireless is a smart combination of phone holder and wireless charger.

In addition to the vent-style mount we reviewed, it’s also available as a mount that uses the CD slot in your car stereo or as a dash mount. All three are priced at $ 55 and are capable of wirelessly charging your Qi-enabled smartphone.

The magnet included in the iTap 2 Wireless was strong enough to hold an iPhone XS Max in place without fear of it falling over while driving.

In our tests, its wireless charging performance averaged above average, for iPhone XS Max and Samsung Galaxy S9, respectively, compared to other wireless chargers we’ve tested.

What to look for in a wireless charger

Until recently, there were two different wireless charging standards that you had to consider when purchasing a wireless charging pad: the Power Matters Alliance (PMA) standard and the Wireless Power Consortium’s Qi standard.

Since then, Powermat has agreed to join the WPC and adopt the Qi standard. (We have noted in our individual wireless charger reviews if it supports the PMA standard, in case you have an older Android device that is only PMA compatible.) Now you only have one factor to consider when choosing a wireless charging pad: Is fast charging supported?

As technology has evolved, so has the speed at which a phone can charge wirelessly. You will need to check the speed at which your phone can charge wirelessly, which is generally given in terms of 7.5 watts (W), 9W, or even 15W.

Sometimes the software influences the speed. For example, an iPhone 8, 8 Plus, or X with iOS 11.2 or later charges at 7.5W, while any of the same iPhones with iOS 11.1 are charged at 5W.

The packaging of most wireless chargers will indicate their speed. Find the wattage rate on the box or a charger’s spec list, then compare it to the speed at which you can charge your phone.

Keep in mind that despite how fast wireless chargers have become, the included charger for most phones will be your best bet when you’re in a rush and need to charge as fast as possible.

How we test

Android

To properly test and measure how long it takes a wireless charger to charge a smartphone from 0 to 100 percent, we follow the steps below each time we place a phone on the charging pad. For the initial round of testing, we used an unlocked Samsung Galaxy S9.

1. We activated airplane mode on the Galaxy S9 to prevent notifications or connections from affecting the battery life during each test.
2. To completely drain the battery of the Galaxy S9, we played a movie in VLC with the screen brightness set to 100 percent until the phone was turned off.
3. If a wireless charger included its own power supply, we used it. If not, we use the standard Samsung wall adapter and an appropriate cable.
4. The phone was placed on a wireless charging pad and a timer was set for four minutes (the minimum time required for the phone to come to life on all the pads we tested). After four minutes, the phone turned on and unlocked.
5. Time-lapse video of each upload session was recorded using a Wyze Cam, with one photo captured every 60 seconds.
6. Charging time was calculated by looking at the video and noting the time when the Galaxy S9’s always-on-screen display would register 100%.
7. We repeated the test three times for each wireless charger and then averaged the results.

iPhone

Testing a wireless charging pad with an iPhone requires a different procedure than with an Android phone. The iPhone does not have an always-on display feature that constantly displays the current battery percentage. That is why we chose to charge our iPhone X for a period of 60 minutes and measure the level of charge achieved by following the steps below:

1. We turned on airplane mode on the iPhone X to prevent unnecessary notifications or connections from affecting battery life during testing.
2. Using VLC and a screen brightness set to 100%, we completely drained the battery until the iPhone X shut down.
3. If a wireless charger included its own power supply, we used it. If not, we use the standard Samsung wall adapter and the appropriate cable.
4. The phone was then placed on a wireless charging pad and a timer was set for 7 minutes (the minimum time required for the phone to come to life on all the pads we tested).
5. At the 7 minute mark, the iPhone would be unlocked and then placed back on the charging pad. A new timer was set for 60 minutes.
6. After the 60 minute timer expired, the phone was removed from the pad and the battery percentage was recorded.
7. We repeat this process three times for each pallet and average the results.

To get an approximation of how long it will take to reach full charge with an iPhone, you can divide 60 (the number of minutes used for this test) by the percentage result that is listed in each review. So if the result is an average 36 percent charge in 60 minutes, the soonest it will take a full charge is approximately 167 minutes, or 2 hours and 47 minutes.

Note that this is an imprecise estimate – we say “rough” because charging may slow down during a full charge.

All our wireless charger reviews

Are you curious about the other options that exist? Below is a list of all the wireless chargers that we have reviewed. We will continue to evaluate new ones on a regular basis, so be sure to check back to see what else we’ve tried.