OnePlus working on faster wireless charging tech, OnePlus 7 likely won’t offer the feature (again)

Ben Schoon | Feb 27 2019 - 6:25 am PT

Let’s see if this one sounds familiar. OnePlus’ next flagship smartphone won’t have wireless charging because the company still thinks the technology isn’t good enough. In an interview this week at MWC 2019, the company reiterated that same old story, again, but this time OnePlus also mentioned that it’s working on better wireless charging tech.

While we didn’t get a proper new smartphone from OnePlus at MWC 2019, the company did show off an early version of its 5G-capable device. More interestingly, though, the company’s CEO Pete Lau sat down with the folks at CNET for an interview. During that interview, the topic of wireless charging came up and, almost expectedly at this point, Lau explained why wired charging is better and wireless charging is inferior.

Through an interpreter he said that “OnePlus charging is one of the best” and that “wireless charging is inferior.” Of course, he refers to the speeds at which the device charges, where wired charging still has a very clear advantage. Despite the advances companies have made recently in the tech, OnePlus apparently still believes customers won’t want the convenient feature added on to the already baked in fast wired charging.

Lau did mention one encouraging detail, though. Apparently, OnePlus is working in the background on a way to achieve faster wireless charging speeds. Lau didn’t mention when the tech would be available in OnePlus devices, but he does say that the company hasn’t managed to figure out the faster speeds without heat issues. He also declined to comment on the potential of using Qualcomm’s new wireless Quick Charge options.

One thing remains clear, though. the OnePlus 7 almost definitely will not feature wireless charging. Shame.