The best wireless chargers in 2023

Wireless chargers can help you tame clutter, let you use a single charger for almost any phone and even spark joy, assuming you’d rather see a sleek charging pad on your counter, desk or nightstand than a rat’s nest of cables. Multi-device chargers can further simplify your setup, giving you a single spot for your phone, smartwatch, wireless headphones or even a second phone. Wireless charging may never be as fast or efficient as wired charging, but it can be a lot more convenient.

We tested 31 wireless chargers to find the best Qi stands and pads, the best MagSafe chargers for iPhone 12 and 13 and the best 3-in-1 Apple chargers that can also charge an Apple Watch and AirPods case.

Best Qi wireless charging pad overall: Logitech Powered Pad (starting at $29.99; logitech.com or $39.99; amazon.com)

The Logitech Powered Pad’s reasonable price, good charging performance, understated looks and 5-foot cord make it a solid wireless charger for any room in the house. Most cheaper wireless chargers look cheaper, and plenty of prettier chargers don’t work as well. Its biggest drawback is that it uses a proprietary AC adapter; many other wireless chargers use standard USB cables and wall adapters, which are easier to replace if necessary.

The Powered Pad’s squircle shape, matte finish and four color options (graphite, white, lilac and blue sage) work well with modern and contemporary decor. It has a pinpoint white status LED that stays on while your phone is charging, but it doesn’t blink and isn’t very bright, so it’s tolerable in dark rooms unless you’re a particularly light-sensitive sleeper.

In testing, the Powered Pad delivered 9W to a Samsung S21 Ultra 5G and 7.5W to iPhones, the maximum each can get from a standard Qi charger. It can also charge Qi wireless headphone cases, like the AirPods Pro case, though positioning can be tricky for devices smaller than the charging pad.

At around $30 from Logitech, the Powered Pad costs about as much as an inexpensive 10W Qi pad, plus the 18W USB-A charger needed to power it, but it looks better than any of the cheap ones we tested, and there’s no risk of plugging it into an underpowered wall adapter. The 25W wall adapter ensures the Powered Pad gets enough power, and while it’s quite tall at 2.25 inches, most USB-A chargers that can power a 10W Qi pad are just as tall when the USB cable is plugged in, and most proprietary wall adapters take up more room around the outlet.

If you can tolerate a proprietary power adapter, the Logitech Powered Pad is a great wireless charging pad for a desk, nightstand or dresser. If you prefer a USB connector, want a charging stand rather than a pad or have a recent iPhone, there are more compelling options below.

A classy 15W USB-C wireless charging pad for Android and iPhone: Moshi Otto Q ($39.95 without USB-C adapter; amazon.com)

If you want a charger you can show off (or at least one that complements your decor), consider the Moshi Otto Q. With its heathered gray fabric top and metal-look case, it resembles Scandinavian hi-fi equipment and doesn’t look out of place on a nightstand, dresser or console table. It can deliver up to 15W to the (vanishingly few) Android phones that support it, 9W to Samsung phones and 7.5W to iPhones.

At 4 inches in diameter, the Otto Q is among the largest charging pads we tested, but it doesn’t feel large, possibly because of the tapered base, and possibly because it’s not a featureless black slab. A grippy rubber ring around the Qi coil helps with phone placement, and a white LED on the front of the pad blinks when your device is charging.

That LED is one of the Otto Q’s few downsides. Its pattern — two fast blinks, then one slow — reads to us more as “there’s a problem” than “I’m charging normally.” Fortunately, it’s not very bright, but the blink could be distracting in a dark bedroom.

The Otto Q is powered via USB-C, and requires an 18W or higher USB-PD charger. If you don’t already have one, we recommend the compact, inexpensive Anker 511 Nano ($13.59; amazon.com). We prefer USB-C rather than USB-A because powerful USB-C chargers are smaller and cheaper than their USB-A equivalents. You’re also more likely to have a 20W USB-C charger hanging around than an 18W USB-A charger, and therefore much less likely to accidentally plug into an underpowered adapter.

Best Qi charging stand: Belkin BoostCharge 15W ($40.53; amazon.com)

The Belkin BoostCharge 15W Is a perfectly fine wireless charging stand. It isn’t exciting, per se, but it lacks the shortcomings of many other stands we tested. First, it connects via USB-C rather than Micro USB like the Anker PowerWave Stand or the 10W Belkin. Unlike the Anker and the YooTech X2, it comes with a USB adapter, in this case 24W USB-A. It supports charge rates up to 15W, if you happen to have an LG V40 or OnePlus 9, or one of the few other Android phones that can hit 15W on a standard charger; it’s also one of the very few wireless charging stands that can exceed 5W on a Google Pixel 3, though few people have those anymore.

The circular base and ovoid stand are inoffensive, as is the matte soft-touch top and (for some reason) glossy black base. It has a white pinpoint charging LED in the front. It doesn’t look as low-budget as the Yootech X2, and the design isn’t as polarizing as the framework stand of the 10 Belkin BoostCharge we tested.

Like most stands we tested, the Belkin BoostCharge 15W can’t charge an iPhone 12 Mini or 13 Mini; the Qi charging coils don’t line up with those smaller phones. We don’t consider that a deal breaker, though, because the 12 and 13 Mini can and should use MagSafe or magnetic Qi chargers instead. It also can’t charge Samsung phones at 15W; fortunately, our next pick can.

Best fast charging stand for Samsung Phones: Samsung 15W Fast Charge Wireless Charging Stand ($79.99; bestbuy.com)

If you have a Samsung phone that supports 15W wireless charging, like the Galaxy S10, S20, S21, Note 10, Note 20 or various Folds and Flips, you should get a 15W Samsung Fast Charge charging stand. Other 15W Qi chargers won’t charge Samsung phones at 15W, and the Samsung charger won’t charge other phones at 15W. Sometimes life is like that.

The Samsung Fast Charge Wireless Charging Stand does charge other Android phones at up to 10W, and iPhones at 7.5W, like most of the other chargers we tested, so it’s still useful in mixed-phone-ecosystem situations, a phrase I can’t believe I typed at 8 p.m. on a Saturday one week before Christmas.

The Samsung is the only charger we tested with an active cooling fan, but you can only control it from a Samsung phone. Also, the status LED glows red when the phone is charging correctly, which is counterintuitive.

Best wireless charger for iPhone 12 and 13: Apple MagSafe Charger ($34; amazon.com or $39.99; apple.com)

If you have any phone in the iPhone 12 or 13 families — including the Mini, Pro or Pro Max — you should consider a MagSafe charger. Rings of magnets on the charger and the phone ensure perfect alignment, and iPhones can charge at up to 15W on a MagSafe charger, compared to 7.5W on a Qi charger. And unlike with a regular wireless charger, you don’t have to leave your phone sitting around while it’s charging; you can use it normally. It even leaves the Lightning port free for wired headphones. (Whether that’s a good thing depends on your relationship with screen time and is outside the scope of this article).

There are a couple of catches, of course. First, though any Qi charger will charge the phone, and plenty already exist that can attach to the magnetic ring, only certified chargers get MagSafe speeds, and there are very few of them. Apple’s MagSafe Charger costs between $32 and $40, has a paltry 3-foot cable and doesn’t include the 20W USB-C charger you’ll need to use it. Second, if you keep your phone in a case, you’ll need one that’s MagSafe-compatible. That’s not a huge deal; plenty of Apple and third-party cases work. And third, MagSafe charging can output a lot of heat, which will cause the charge rate to drop until the phone’s internal temperature goes down.

Oh, and the iPhone 12 Mini and 13 Mini are capped at 12W charging via MagSafe, rather than 15W, for heat dissipation reasons.

Still, if you have a MagSafe-compatible phone and want fast wireless charging, it’s worth getting a MagSafe charger. If you’re interested in the magnetic part but don’t mind a slower charge, you can also consider a magnetic Qi charger like the one we recommend below.

Best magnetic Qi charger for iPhone 12 and 13: Anker 313 Magnetic Wireless Charger Pad With USB-C Charger ($22.99; amazon.com)

If you don’t have an iPhone 12 or 13, there’s no reason to buy a magnetic Qi charger. They attach to the ring of magnets in MagSafe-compatible phones, but they’re regular Qi chargers, so they’re limited to 7.5W. Unlike MagSafe chargers, which deliberately drop their charging to a snail’s pace if they detect non-iPhones (thanks, Apple!), magnetic Qi chargers will charge other phones just fine, but since those other phones lack the magnetic ring, they’re harder to align than a regular Qi charger.

The reason to buy a magnetic Qi charger, then, is if you have a MagSafe phone but want something you can’t get with an official MagSafe charger, like a cord that’s more than 3 feet long.

For that very specific use case, the Anker 313 Magnetic Wireless Charger Pad is pretty good! It has a 5-foot cord, which is 2 more feet than Apple gives you, it’s only a little larger than the MagSafe charger and instead of costing $30 to $40 without a USB-C wall adapter, it’s $23 and comes with a 20W USB-C charger that costs around $15 by itself. That means the Anker charging pad costs about $8. Eight bucks!

Anker’s charging pad and cord are less bulky than the one on the Belkin Wireless Magnetic Charger, and its magnets are much stronger than the Mophie Snap+. If you want a bedside or couchside charger with longer reach than Apple’s MagSafe and don’t mind the slower charging, it’s a good deal.

Best Qi charging bowl/valet tray: Tylt Bowl ($49.99; amazon.com)

Does anyone need a wireless charging bowl with yellow underglow, fake wood grain on the outside and fake copper (or faux terra cotta?) on the inside? I don’t know. But I tested 28 wireless chargers for this article and the Tylt Bowl was the only one that sparked joy.

The Tylt is a plastic bowl, about 7 inches in diameter, with a 10W Qi charging pedestal in the middle at about rim height. The inside is a semi-glossy copper colored plastic, while the outside has an unconvincing wood grain pattern. A golden light shines down into the bowl from the stand when your phone is charging.

The light will probably be too much if you charge your phone in your bedroom at night. I charge mine in my bathroom (I’m trying to keep my phone out of the bedroom), so the underglow makes a perfect night light, and the bowl is a great holding place for my wallet, various pocket knives, arguably too much jewelry for a 36-year-old father of three and other pocket contents. The overall effect is a bit like a video game loot drop, or someone trying to make a point about the veneration we give our phones.

There are other classy ways to combine a wireless charger and a pocket dump/valet tray, like the Courant Catch:3 ($100; amazon.com), and sure, they can spark a different kind of joy: the quiet joy of a tasteful, well-appointed accessory. But sometimes you need the big dumb joy of a wireless charging bowl with fake wood grain.

Best modular wireless charging system: Scosche BaseLynx Modular Charging System Pro Kit ($199.95 in white; scosche.com or $146.96 in black; scosche.com)

The Scosche BaseLynx Modular Charging System is a great way to make a family charging station for all your devices, whether or not they support wireless charging. If you only want a single Qi charging pad, you can get it for around $50, but if that’s all you need, there are less expensive, less bulky options. The appeal of the BaseLynx is that you can add modules as needed and power them all with a single AC cable.

We tested the Pro Kit, which starts at $146.96 in black ($199.95 in white, as tested). It consists of a 10W Qi charging pad; Apple Watch charging module; the Vert, which holds three devices vertically and has an 18W USB-C port and two 12W USB-A ports; and the EndCap, which adds another 18W USB-C port and 12W USB-A port. With all these modules, the BaseLynx kit is large, at more than 13 inches wide and almost 6 inches deep. But we were able to charge a Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra on the Qi pad, an Apple Watch, an iPad, an iPhone 12 Mini, an iPhone 11 and a Google Pixel 3 at the same time. And we could still fit a second Qi charger and a second Apple Watch charger before running out of power overhead.

If you have the space, and the need, to charge a half dozen or more devices at once, the BaseLynx system is worth considering. If your needs are more modest, you can save space and money with something more compact. Scosche tells us a MagSafe module is coming soon, but as of December 2021 it is not yet available.

Best Apple charging station for phones without MagSafe: Zens 4-in-1 Wireless Charger ($49.99; amazon.com)

If you have an iPhone, Apple Watch and AirPods, it makes sense to get a charging station that can handle all three at once. But in 2023, it doesn’t make sense to spend a lot of money on one that doesn’t support MagSafe; if you have an Apple Watch and AirPods but an iPhone 11 or earlier, there’s a good chance you’ll upgrade to a newer phone before long, and that phone will have MagSafe. So after testing six Qi Apple charging stations, which ranged in price from $40 to $150, we recommend the Zens 4-in-1 if it stays near $50, or the Anker PowerWave 3-in-1 if it’s still around $40.

The original price of the Zens 4-in-1, around $140, is more than anyone should pay for a 3-in-1 charger without MagSafe in the year of Luigi 2023. But it’s been around $50 recently, and at that price it’s a steal. The Zens 4-in-1 has two 10W Qi charging zones and two 5W USB ports. It can charge two phones at 10W each (one in portrait, one in landscape), plus an Apple Watch and a low-powered USB accessory, like a set of Bluetooth headphones.

The Zens comes with a 1-foot Apple Watch charging cable, which plugs into its rear USB port and slots into a holder on the back right of the pad. There’s no cable management at all, so that cord is just hanging out there. It doesn’t look great, but it also means you can remove and reuse the cable easily (though the Apple Watch adapter clip is permanently affixed, unlike the one on the Mophie Wireless Charging Stand+).

There’s no divot, dimple or other easy way to align a headphone case to either charging pad — we had some trouble getting a set of AirPods Pro to charge at first — but both pads can charge at up to 10W, rather than limiting one to 5W, as most charging stations do. This adds to the Zens’ longevity. The 45W USB-PD charger and braided USB-C cable are also usable elsewhere. Not that you should buy a charging pad you’re planning to part out, but it’s much more sustainable than, say, the Logitech Powered 3-in-1 or the Mophie 3-in-1, which both cost over $140 and have proprietary AC adapters and nonremovable Apple Watch chargers.

A great vertical Qi Apple charging station: Anker PowerWave 3-in-1 (starting at $67.99 with charger; amazon.com)

If you’d rather look at your phone in vertical mode and don’t mind supplying your own Apple Watch charging puck, consider the Anker PowerWave 3-in-1. It’s a step down from the Zens in most respects — its charger is less powerful, the headphone charging area is limited to 5W and partially blocks the view of the Apple Watch and it doesn’t include an Apple Watch charging cable. But it’s the next best option if the Zens isn’t available at the current steep discount.

The Anker PowerWave 3-in-1 has a 10W Qi charging stand, a 5W Qi pad for wireless AirPod cases and a stand with a slot for an Apple Watch charger. The Apple Watch charger isn’t included. Instead, Anker provides an internal USB port under the bottom cover, along with a clever routing system for the 3-foot charging cable the Apple Watch comes with.

Unfortunately, the AirPod charging area is right in front of the Watch charger, so the headphone case will partially block your view of the Watch in nightstand mode. There’s also no divot or indicator to help with AirPod case placement; you just have to make sure the pad’s charging indicator lights up.

The 18W USB-A charger included with the PowerWave 3-in-1 is less powerful and less useful than the 45W USB-PD one that comes with the Zens, but it’s still streets ahead of any proprietary charger.

This may sound like faint praise compared to the Zens, but if the Zens isn’t heavily marked down, the Anker is the better buy if you don’t want to wait until you have a MagSafe phone.

Best MagSafe Apple charging station: Belkin BoostCharge Pro 3-in-1 ($139.95; apple.com)

The Belkin BoostCharge Pro 3-in-1 looks like a sculpture or a jewelry store window display. Its MagSafe-certified charging pad and Apple Watch charger are suspended on slim metal arms above its base, so your watch and phone float in the air, while your AirPods charge in an indentation in the matte white base. It’s one of the most striking designs we’ve seen; it’s also the only MagSafe-certified 3-in-1 charger available (though a new Belkin 3-in-1 MagSafe charging pad is up for preorder now), and there are plenty of stands that require you to bring your own MagSafe charger; we haven’t tested those.

In our testing, the MagSafe pad delivered 12W charging to an iPhone 12 Mini (non-Minis can expect 15W) while charging the Watch and AirPods as well. The Belkin connects to its proprietary 40W charger via a 5-foot cable with a barrel connector. We’d prefer USB-C, but proprietary adapters are common in multi-device chargers. There’s no charging indicator for the watch or MagSafe pads, just the Qi pad on the base, but charging indicators aren’t that important for magnetic chargers since you can’t really misalign them.

At $150, the BoostCharge Pro is expensive, and it takes up a lot of room, with a 5.3-inch-diameter base; both phone and watch extend past the base’s edges when charging. But thanks to its slim metal support arm, it doesn’t look bulky. It also doesn’t support fast charging for the Apple Watch Series 7, though Belkin’s new 3-in-1 will.

What to look for in a wireless charger

If your smartphone or headphones charge wirelessly, they probably use the Qi induction charging standard. All iPhones released since 2017 support Qi, as do most (but not all) Android smartphones, especially high-end ones. You can stick your phone on any Qi charger and expect it to charge, but if you make sure your charger supports your phone’s maximum charge rate, you’ll get faster charging and less frustration.

Any Qi charger you can buy will charge your device at 5W, which is to say slowly. Most current Android phones support wireless charging at up to 9W or 10W. Some can hit 15W on a standard 15W Qi charger; others, like certain Samsung and OnePlus phones, support higher wireless charging rates but only using their own chargers. If you’re not sure what charge rates your phone supports, check the manufacturer’s specification page for your phone.

The iPhone 8 and newer can charge via Qi at up to 7.5W, but the iPhone 12 and 13 series also support MagSafe, Apple’s proprietary magnetic wireless charging standard, at up to 15W (12W for the 12 Mini and 13 Mini).

Regardless of the phone, induction charging isn’t as fast as wired charging. The Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra 5G, which we used for testing, can charge via USB-C at 25W. Samsung’s wireless chargers can hit 15W; on a standard Qi charger, it’s limited to 9W. So it’ll charge almost three times faster with a cable than on a wireless charger. The iPhone 13 can charge at up to 20W via Lightning cable, 15W on MagSafe and just 7.5W on a standard wireless charger. If you’re in a hurry, plug it in.

Wireless charging is also energy inefficient — by some calculations it takes 40% more energy to charge a phone wirelessly than by plugging it in. Every 10W wireless charger we tested required at least a 15W wall adapter.

But wireless charging is convenient and requires less messing around with cables. It also means households with more than one type of phone can all use the same chargers. And for overnight charging, or any time you don’t need the absolute fastest charge, it’s a nice option to have.

How we tested