Ahead of the launch of the OnePlus 5T on November 16, OnePlus CEO Pete Lau has confirmed that the handset will not come with wireless charging. In his announcement, Pete says that despite improvements to wireless charging in recent times, the company’s own Dash Charge still remains a “superior choice.”
Lau then goes on to list various reasons in his post as to why Dash Charge is better and the existing implementation of wireless charging is not good enough. What he fails to mention, however, is that like the OnePlus 5 before it, the OnePlus 5T will also be made of metal. This means it is technologically impossible to include wireless charging on the device. All smartphones in the market that feature wireless charging feature a glass back. Nonetheless, I do agree with Lau here that Dash Charge is better than wireless (fast) charging. While plenty of other Android devices also come with some form of quick charging, Dash Charge is superior to all of them because of its faster charge times and reduced heating issues. A quick 5 to 10 minutes of charge using the Dash Charger and cable will be enough to ensure your OnePlus 5/5T will last for a few additional hours. The same is simply not possible with wireless fast charging which is significantly slower. Then, there are other issues with wireless charging like having to make sure your phone is properly aligned with the charging coil on the charger for optimum charging speeds. At its current stage, wireless charging is more about limited convenience and having a ‘cool’ factor being associated with it than anything else. However, now that Apple has embraced the technology with its 2017 iPhone lineup, the feature is bound to become commonplace in every major Android device within the next year or so. OnePlus might also eventually have to give in the wireless charging trend.
