Why the OnePlus 6 doesn't have wireless charging even though almost every other high-end smartphones does
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Antonio Villas-Boas/Business Insider
OnePlus announced its latest smartphone, the OnePlus 6, on Wednesday, and it's looking really good even though it doesn't offer much more than the previous model, the OnePlus 5T.
Meanwhile, replacing metal backs with glass has allowed most other smartphone makers to add wireless charging to their smartphones, as metal doesn't allow for it. Apple did this with its latest iPhone 8 and iPhone X, both of which have new glass backs. Previous models as far back as the iPhone 5 - and the original iPhone - had metal backs.
Antonio Villas-Boas/Business Insider
Yet, despite its glass back, the OnePlus 6 still doesn't have wireless charging, even though pretty much every high-end flagship devices carries the feature now.
When I asked some OnePlus representatives why the OnePlus 6 doesn't have wireless charging, they simply shrugged and said "we don't really feel the need to add wireless charging. We're not going to add a feature just for the sake of it."OnePlus is a company that listens carefully to its customers, who are often Android power-users who like to tweak the operating system to customize their devices. Apparently, OnePlus users don't really ask for wireless charging very often.Wireless charging is a nice feature, and some smartphone users have come to love it. But it's not a "must-have" feature. Wireless charge speeds are slower than wired charging, and there's also a built-in barrier that could dissuade the average person from adopting wireless charging: You have to actively buy a wireless charging pad separately, as they're not often included with smartphones, if at all.
Antonio Villas-Boas/Business Insider
To top it off, the OnePlus 6 comes with the company's Dash Charge technology, which is the best fast charger on any smartphone. The Dash Charge brick itself harbors all the parts that get hot during charging, which lets the OnePlus 6 charge at full speed even when you're using it for intensive tasks when a phone gets hot, like playing a game. When other smartphones get hot, charge speeds are throttled so that the phone itself doesn't get too hot and potentially damage the components inside.
So, those are the potential disadvantages of wireless charging, and it doesn't make sense if few are asking for it, or if there's no guarantee that a lot of people will use it. With all this in mind, the lack of wireless charging in the OnePlus 6 has no negative impact on how I view the phone.
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