After releasing last week’s poll on smartphone charging speeds, we’ve been keeping an eye on it. After a few hours, the 15-30 minute and 30-45 minute options were evenly matched, both outpacing the other survey responses. But then things started to turn.
In a surprising result, the poll ended with the 15 minutes or less option in the lead and with a healthy margin too. People really warmed up to fast charging. The 15-30 and 30-45 minute answers are still equal, but they are well behind the super fast option.
As usual, there were concerns about the negative effects on battery longevity that fast charging can have. But another opinion has emerged – as app and game demands increase over time, a 2-year-old phone might start to feel sluggish. Then you’ll start looking for a new phone, even if your battery life is still great.
In other words, battery degradation is only a problem if it happens faster than the rest of the phone. Depending on your use cases, the chipset might still feel pretty fast. But as new display and camera technologies are released and manufacturers stop releasing OS updates on older phones, you’ll end up wanting a new phone.
So there you have it, fast wired charging is good. Several people in the comments mentioned that they preferred using USB Power Delivery (which is the industry standard) over proprietary solutions. But even these support USB-PD, just not at the insane 100+ and even 200+ watts of power that proprietary technology gives you.
There was a second poll last week, regarding wireless charging. This one also had an interesting result – wireless charging is a widely requested feature, but charging speed doesn’t matter.
A slow, steady pace is helpful if you’re charging overnight or have a wireless charger on your desk at work. Wireless charging also has other advantages: you can charge some headphones and smartwatches, even if you didn’t bring a cable with you.
In the end, both polls were won out of convenience. Super fast wired charging eliminates battery anxiety – as long as you can plug in for a few minutes, you’re ready for the rest of the day. Wireless charging is handy for those times when speed doesn’t matter, but you’d rather not tether the phone with wires.
As for those calling for the return of user-replaceable batteries, the EU might grant your wish.