It has been rumoured and speculated about for a while now that the upcoming OnePlus 8 series will be the first OnePlus device to have wireless charging. They have never had it because they didn’t think it met the same standards as their ultra fast wired Warp charging. Now it is official — the OnePlus 8 will come with wireless charging.
Today on their forum OnePlus have announced Warp Charger 30 Wireless. Warp Charge 30 Wireless has a peak output of 30W and has the ability to charge your phone from 1% to 50% in just half an hour.
For the first time ever, our industry-leading Warp Charge technology is going wireless on the #OnePlus8Series.
— OnePlus (@oneplus) April 7, 2020
Using specially designed hardware (isolated charge pump) incorporated directly into the wireless direct charging architecture they were able to create a charge efficiency of 97% thereby minimising the amount of energy that is converted to heat. If you were concerned with safety OnePlus have designed the charging so that the isolated charge pump deactivates charging when abnormal currents and voltages are detected.
To also aid in the heat dissipation there is also a fan built into the stand itself with the fan making up to 30db of noise — there will be a night mode where the fan will not operate and as such charging speeds will be reduced.
There is also a customised chip that is used to control the charger’s current and voltage to maximise overall efficiency. The combination of the chip and the isolated charge pump helps to ensure a 30W charge that is both fast and stable.
Of course you may think that wireless charging for this device would only work with OnePlus’ charger but you’d be wrong. It is Qi-compatible so will charge on all Qi-compatible 5W chargers and if the charger supports a 10W EPP standard (such as Belkin etc) you’ll be able to get those 10W speeds without any hassles.
Coincidentally the same night that OnePlus publish this information renders of a OnePlus charger have emerged thanks to leaker Evan Blass. The renders look to be real and Evan has a great track record so we have every confidence in their legitimacy.
As you can see in the images below the wireless charging stand is very similar to the Pixel Stand in the way it sits the phone up so you can see it easily while it is charging — it will be interesting to see if OnePlus include any special features that can be used while it is charging like Google Assistant does for Pixels and the Pixel Stand. You can see the fan on the rear of the charger as well.
As for cost OnePlus CEO, Pete Lau, told the Verge that “The cost of materials is certainly higher than what we could expect for most traditional Qi chargers, but we’ve done what we can to make the price of the charger as reasonable as possible.” OnePlus are now a premium smartphone manufacturer — expect some premium prices to match their quality.
This time next week the OnePlus 8 will be official and we will know all the details about it and its new functions. Expect big things from OnePlus, not just in their hardware but in their added features and functionality — hopefully the phone can once again match the hype they are creating for it.
do oneplus support VOLTE by default?