The first Palm smartphone equipped with wireless charging function was born in 2009. After 14 years of development, today the wireless charging function of mobile phones is common. Almost all mobile phone brands are equipped with wireless charging on their flagship models. I believe many friends have used or experienced the convenience of wireless charging.

Everyone knows that wireless charging is a good thing to improve the battery life and power replenishment of mobile phones, but for a long time, the wireless charging function is still absent from the low-end and mid-range models that account for the majority of mobile phone shipments. Why is the penetration rate of wireless charging function growing slowly? Whose fault is it? Mobile phone manufacturers do not pay attention? Marketing not keeping up? Users don’t care? Few options for wireless charging accessories?

In fact, it is caused by the superposition of multiple parties.

List of recent mobile phone information that supports wireless charging

In order to facilitate readers to understand the market trend of wireless charging mobile phones, we sorted out the parameters of 27 mainstream mobile phones that support wireless charging function recently, and analyzed them from several key elements.

Unavoidable selling price factors

First of all, let’s take a look at the starting price. Of the 27 mobile phones in the table, only 8 are less than 600 US$. The starting price is the lowest storage capacity configuration, and users tend to choose larger capacities. It means that the coverage of the consumption range is wider, and it is in the mid-end and mid-to-high-end prices.

And more models are priced at more than 700 US$. The sales volume of this high-end flagship model is far lower than that of mid-range and mid-to-high-end models. The price of the whole machine with wireless charging function is relatively expensive, so wireless charging function is difficult to popularize.

Only flagship phones have wireless charging?

Apple and Samsung are the only brands that insist on using a full range of standard wireless charging. Apple supports wireless charging on the iPhone 8-14 series, and magnetic wireless charging is added to the iPhone 12-14 series to improve the experience. Samsung started to lay out the wireless charging market earlier, but the mobile phones of these two brands that support wireless charging are not cheap.

Apart from Apple and Samsung, in the product lines of other mobile phone brands, even the main models, the wireless charging function will be treated differently.

Canceled wireless charging feature

Some mobile phones support wireless charging in the previous generation, but the wireless charging function is canceled in the latest released model. Why?

This involves many aspects. The first is that the wireless charging coil module will affect the internal space. The battery capacity can only be compromised, and the capacity is reduced to make room for the coil.

The second is that the position of the camera module of mobile phones is getting bigger and bigger, which will invade the center position of wireless charging. If the wireless charging coil is placed forcibly, the coil will not be centered, and there will be compatibility problems during charging. The wireless charging function puts higher demands on the structural design of mobile phones.

The third is market factors. The addition of wireless charging to mid-range models may impact their own high-end models. In addition, manufacturers are not sure about users’ demand for wireless charging. Finally, there is the consideration of cost. The price war is very fierce, and the wireless charging function was the first to be cut off, which is understandable.

Wireless charging performance

Let’s look at wireless charging performance, that is the power of wireless charging. Once upon a time, wireless charging performance was as “arms race” as wired charging performance, and the unreleased test prototype reached a maximum wireless charging power of 120W.

In order to avoid interference in the electromagnetic wave band, the rated transmission power of all mobile and portable wireless charging is required to be less than 50W by Chinese government. Since then, the upper limit of wireless charging power for mobile phones has been limited to less than 50W. The arms race of various companies has shifted from pure power figures to shorter charging times and lower temperatures, and the research and development direction has shifted to comprehensive experience.

The wireless charging performance of mobile phones in the table is mainly divided into three levels. The power of the first echelon is 50W, which is the current ceiling of wireless charging performance of mobile phones. The speed is comparable to wired charging. Users with ultra-high-power wireless charging can even completely abandon wired charging. But generally only expensive flagship machines will be equipped.

The power of the second echelon is 30W, and there are only three models in this power segment, which provide a good charging experience, and the price is relatively affordable. The power of the third echelon is 15W. Although the power is not high, it is mainly used to replenish power during fragmentation.

Wireless charging accessories

As we all know, most high-power wireless charging manufacturers customized private wireless charging protocols, and it needs to cooperate with the original special wireless charger to obtain high-power wireless charging. At present, the original high-power wireless charging accessories of various brands are relatively expensive, and there are not many styles to choose from.

In addition to the original private wireless charging protocol, all mobile phone brands support general wireless charging standards such as Qi, but the performance will be treated equally, and the power will be below 15W. Universal standard wireless charging accessories have a wide range of option and many styles, and the price is relatively affordable.

The deadlock-breaking Redmi K60 series

In December 2022, Redmi released the K60 series. There are a small cup version K60e, a medium cup version K60 and a large cup version K60 Pro. Except for the entry-level K60e, the latter two are equipped with 30W wireless charging with the same performance. The hot-selling models with running volume start at 349 US$ and 469 US$ respectively.

The Redmi K series has always been very popular, with an astonishing sales volume of 300,000 units within 5 minutes of its launch, allowing mid-range and mid-to-high-end mobile phone users to experience the fun of wireless charging. And this is a 30W wireless charging with good performance, it is foreseeable that the wireless charging accessories market will also be driven.

Summary

Mobile phone manufacturers think that consumers do not care about the wireless charging function, so the low-end and mid-range directly cut wireless charging. The wireless charging function is only used as a piece of the barrel of the flagship phone to “fill” the shortcomings of the flagship phone experience. Consumers actually want to buy wireless charging mobile phones, but this function is only available in expensive flagship phones. The starting price of more than 700US$ is prohibitive, and it also creates the illusion that consumers do not care about wireless charging. The accessories market is waiting for the wind, but because wireless charging mobile phones are still not popular, the sales volume of wireless charging accessories is only a small part compared with that of wired charging accessories. As a result, accessory manufacturers dare not invest heavily in the speed and quantity of new product development.