Best Wireless Chargers 2021

This low-cost and reliable charger from ESR is great for your desk or bedside table. It doesn’t come with a wall plug, but pair the USB-C cable with a 10W charging brick and it can fast charge Quick Charge devices.

It also works with 7.5W and 5W chargers, so any Qi-compatible phone will work. A handy light on the base stays blue when a phone is charging, and flashes red if it’s not lined up properly.

Affordable, simple and effective. 

This is a cracking deal from Anker, one of the most reliable names in charging tech.

The PowerWave Pad is a simple disc-shaped pad, that has a soft-touch matte surface top and bottom to add grip, meaning there’s no chance of your phone slipping off the pad or the pad itself wiggling around on the table.

It’s compact, light and efficient, with a small LED on the top to show everything is working correctly. A flashing blue light alerts you to a metal obstruction, while flashing green confirms that an incompatible cable or adaptor is connected, but solid blue means all is well.

The PowerWave Pad supports up to 10W wireless charging with compatible devices, making it one of the faster models available.

Stylish and fast, this nicely designed Qi charger from Mophie will be a great fit for many living rooms and bedside tables. It’s very small and lightweight, taking up no more room than is necessary, and has just a single LED strip glowing from below to denote operation.

We love the design, with a suede-like soft material covering the upper surface of the pad. This, combined with the raised rubber rim that runs around the edge, should help to keep your smartphone firmly in place during use. Charging is effective with cases up to 3mm thick.

The 15W output is a highlight, and sufficient for fast-charging any compatible phone. To achieve that speed you must have an equally powerful adaptor at the other end; Mophie has got around this issue by supplying its own plug that doesn’t support USB, which is either convenient or inconvenient, depending on how you look at it.

With Apple’s AirPower failing to materialise, the Choetech Dual Fast Wireless Charger is an intriguing alternative.

Despite being able to charge two Qi-compatible devices at once, thanks to five coils tucked away inside, the Choetech charger is not overly big or cumbersome. It’s a sleek device with a black meshed top not unlike that of a speaker, but much slimmer – it’s really not that much bigger than many of today’s flagship phones.

Indeed, with two smartphones on top there isn’t much space to play around with how they are positioned, but with just one phone to charge you’ll find you can throw it down at any angle for the ultimate convenience.

The design is minimal but functional. A small LED at the front lets you know it’s operating without lighting up the room, and you’ll find vents at the bottom to help dissipate heat. Also here are rubber strips to help grip on a flat surface.

This wireless charging stand from Kit is UK-specific because it attaches directly onto your mains socket.

Kit markets it for the kitchen, but it could work just as well in an office or next to the bed. Installation is quick, and only requires enough DIY skill to unscrew the socket plate slightly and slide the charger’s mount into place.

Once it’s installed, you get the space to wirelessly charge two phones or one tablet, with speeds up to 10W over the Qi standard. You can also simultaneously charge a third phone via the included USB Type-A socket – though this is in a slightly awkward spot on the bottom.

It doesn’t have to take up a whole wall socket: it only uses one plug, leaving space for you to plug something else in – and you can access this plug to swap it out without a screwdriver.

This neat wireless charger adds back-up functionality thanks to built-in flash memory.

Choose between 128- or 256GB memory that will allow you to back up your photos and videos at the same time as charging your phone wirelessly.

You can share the iXpand with others, but in order to keep your backups separate, you’ll need to create free accounts within the iXpand Charger app.

128GB might not be enough to back up an entire family’s camera rolls, but it’s a decent capacity for individuals. There’s a micro USB port on the back so you can transfer the backed-up photos and videos to your PC or laptop should the iXpand fill up completely.

The app is necessary for connecting the device to your Wi-Fi network, but it also shows the status of backup and charging, and will also offer to free up space on your phone by deleting everything that has been backed up.

This 10W wireless charging stand from Belkin has the handy advantage of allowing you to continue using your phone as it charges.

The width of the cradle is fixed, but wide enough to house any smartphone. It’s also reasonably low, making it just as easy to lay your phone down horizontally as it is standing upright.

The dock itself is very sturdy, thanks to a generous footprint, though the device itself is not too large. It has a very simple but functional matte black plastic design. 

A small white LED lets you know the charger is functioning correctly, but pleasingly is hidden out of the way at the top of the dock.

Certified for Apple and Samsung Fast Charge, the Belkin might be a bit pricier than some, but you can be assured it will deliver optimum charging speeds, and there is a wired adaptor in the box.

Moshi’s Lounge Q is a stylish Qi-certified wireless charging stand that is adjustable in height and phone orientation. It is softer on the eye than most other plastic stands, with its Nordic-gray cloth “inspired by Danish furniture design”.

The ability to adjust the charging pad’s height means there should be less manoeuvring of the phone to pick the correct spot for charging, and it is easier to accommodate phones of different sizes.

It will also charge in both vertical and horizontal modes.

Other charging stands often have a fixed charging coil, and so are more rigid in where a phone must be placed.

Moshi uses a ferrite sheet that offers speedy and efficient charging. It can fast-charge any device up to an impressive 15W. It supports both Apple (7.5W) and Samsung (9W) fast-charging (WPC Qi-EPP spec).

An LED indicator shows the phone’s charging status. It features a 1.2m (4ft) USB-C cable, so you will need a USB-C charger to connect this to.

If you just want a wireless charging pad, the Moshi Otto Q is a horizontal alternative featuring the same technology. And the Moshi Porto Q is a pad that can be detached from its cable and carried around as a portable 5,000mAh power bank.

Twelve South’s HiRise Wireless is a premium 10W Qi wireless charging stand that can also be a wireless charging pad.

It’s simple. You can just pop out the charging back of the upright pedestal stand, and use it flat as a portable pad, which is handy if you want to take it out with you to the coffee shop or another office without taking the whole stand with you. It comes with a 1.5m USB-A-to-USB-C cable.

As a pad, you can also use it to charge a wireless earbud case, such as the one with Apple’s AirPods.

Build quality is high, with the stand made from gunmetal chrome and leather.

Aimed primarily at those heavily invested in the Apple ecosystem, the STM ChargeTree looks to be your one-stop-shop for wirelessly topping up your devices.

It offers the ability to wirelessly charge not only your iPhone, but your second-gen AirPods/AirPods Pro and your Apple Watch, too.

The simplistic, compact design of the ChargeTree means it doesn’t take up a lot of space on your desk or bedside table, although the bright LED indicator lights may disturb those who have it next to their bed.

A large grippy rubber square on the bottom of the charger should keep it securely in place, no matter where it’s sat.

It’s powered by USB-C and comes with a USB-C to USB-A cable in the box, but there’s no power supply.

For the full experience, you’ll need to use an 18W charging brick – anything less and your devices will take a while to charge up.

This super-stylish wireless charging pad should find favour with those heavily invested in Apple’s ecosystem, though it’s likely to have reduced appeal for Android users.

Although it’s called a 3-in-1 wireless charging pad, the pad itself actually supports just an iPhone (7.5W) and AirPods (5W), and there’s a small space at the back to clip in an additional wireless charging stand for Apple Watch (5W).

Being able to remove the watch stand if you don’t need it is convenient, although doing so will leave a hole in the otherwise ultra-premium design. If you do own an Apple Watch, the Mophie pad supports Nightstand Mode, meaning you can use the watch as a bedside clock while it is being charged.

There’s an indentation on the left to hold your earbuds case firmly in place, which is aided by the grippy ‘UltraSuede’ fabric covering on the top surface of the pad. It does, however, mean you’re less likely to want or be able to use it to charge an alternative gadget.

Meanwhile, your iPhone sits over to the right of the pad. While the Mophie is compatible with other Qi-compatible phones, there are more powerful options for wireless charging Android phones.

The necessary adaptor is supplied in the box, which makes setup and use simple.

Another wireless…