It’s 2021, and tech has come a long way. Now, you can just lay your phone down on a charging mat, and it will top up the phone’s battery minus any hassles of connecting and disconnecting power cables. If you want the convenience of wireless charging on your car as well, thankfully, that’s easily doable. These car chargers look very much like conventional car chargers. The only difference is that the cradle has wireless charging powers, thereby making it easier to juice your phone in your car sans any wire.
However, wireless chargers trade speed for convenience and most car chargers yield not more than 15W, with iPhones’ charging speed capped at around 7.5W.
Nonetheless, if you want to access your phone without the hassle of cables when driving, check out our recommendations below for the best wireless car chargers under $50. But first,
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1. Uuto Wireless Car Charger
If a stylish wireless charger is more your thing, then you can’t go wrong with the Uuto Wireless Car Charger. The crux of this charger is its trendy and stylish looks. It’s an air-vent mount and can provide as much as 15W for charging. Interestingly, the arms auto-close when the phone is kept in the cradle. Needless to say, this sweetens the deal.
Apart from uplifting your overall user experience, this feature also lets you retrieve your phone with a single hand. All you need to do is press the button, and that’s about it.
The highlight of this car charger is that it ships with an adapter. If you look around, most wireless car chargers do not ship with the power adapter.
But at the end of the day, it’s not perfect. The arms enclosing the phone are long and, at times, prevent you from accessing the buttons on your phone.
Thanks to its price, this one has attracted a huge number of user reviews. People like it for its suction power, durability, and value for money proposition.
2. Aukey Wireless Car Charger
It packs a flexible design, wherein you can rotate the mount 360-degree and pull down the foot bracket if you have a bigger phone. Plus, the soft padding safeguards the phone from getting scratched.
It charges via USB-C, and similar to the one above, you will need to attach a USB-C cable to it. The company ships a USB-C to USB-A cable. However, it doesn’t come with a compatible fast charging adapter.
However, the low price point means you will have to give up on some features. In this case, it’s the type of mount. The Aukey Wireless Car Charger comes only with an air-vent mount and doesn’t bundle an additional dashboard mount.
3. ZeeHoo Wireless Car Charger
The ZeeHoo Wireless Car Charger combines both worlds’ best and brings home a highly functional and affordable car charger. It bundles an auto-sensing clamp, which eases the process of attaching the phone to the holder. Simultaneously, the company ships a dashboard mount and an air vent mount, thus broadening your scope of attaching your phone as per your state’s law.
While the design is not as sleek as some of its counterparts, you can rest assured that your phone will charge at an appropriate speed. It’s highly flexible. You can rotate the cradle to a horizontal position or, you can extend the telescopic arm, as per your preference.
Charge-wise, it packs a decent punch. While compatible iPhones will draw 7.5W power, Android phones can get as much as 10W.
This car charger holds the phone safely and securely. The cradle closes automatically when it senses a phone. And when you have to remove it, you need to press a button, and that’s about it.
It charges via a USB-C cable. However, note that it doesn’t ship with a power adaptor, and you’ll have to get your own. If you do not have one already, that adds up to the cost.
4. Mpow Car Wireless Charger
If you are not a fan of the dashboard charger and are comfortable with Cup-holder mounting (or air-vent mounting), then you can check out the Mpow Car Wireless Charger. This one is capable of 15W wireless charging on compatible Android phones. However, if you own a Samsung phone or an iPhone, the charging will be capped at 10W and 7.5W respectively.
It has all the essential features such as autosensing arms and an additional air-vent mount. It’s sturdy and holds your phone well. The only thing you have to keep in mind is to take out the phone before you switch off the car engine. Otherwise, the phone will stay stuck to the charger. In fact, that’s the case with most wireless chargers with auto-sensing arms.
Again, you will get the desired charging speed if and only if you hook it to a compatible adapter, in this case, a QC 3.0 or QC 2.0 car adapter. That said, do note that the Mpow wireless charger doesn’t ship with a cable, and you will have to buy your own. On the upside, you do get clever cable management in this one.
5. iOttie Wireless Car Charger
iOttie has been a good name in the accessories market for its car and bike mounts. The iOttie Wireless Car Charger addresses some of the key issues with some car chargers. For one, it comes with an adjustable foot that adjusts to the size of bigger phones such as the iPhone 12 Pro Max. This ensures that the phone aligns properly with the charging pad for the charging to kickstart. Secondly, it has a discreet design, ensuring that your car charger doesn’t stand out like a sore thumb.
More importantly, the wireless charging pad sits atop a highly flexible mount and arm. While the telescopic arm can extend up to 8.3-inch, it can also pivot 225-degree. The latter allows you to place the mount on your car’s dashboard or the windshield as per your preference and your state’s rules.
The auto-sensing tech works one way—the arms automatically close when you need to place your phone on it. However, it doesn’t open on its own, even though it costs more than the ones above.
Nevertheless, it’s quite popular on Amazon. It has received a decent amount of positive user reviews, with people liking it for its easy installation process, sturdiness, and the fact that it works with the case.
Cut the Wire
Wireless charger indeed provides us with the ease of charging compatible phones without bothering about plugging and unplugging the power cable. However, do note that most chargers do not ship with power adapters, and some even don’t ship with the cable. And unless you get a compatible Qualcomm Quick Charge compatible charger, the odds are that your phone will get minimal speed.
The Uuto charger seems to be a good option if you don’t want to spend much. However, if you do not mind spending a few bucks extra, then the iOttie Wireless Car Charger makes for a good buy.
Last updated on 02 February, 2022
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