OnePlus 5T Won't Have Wireless Charging, OnePlus CEO Explains Why

The OnePlus 5T will officially be announced on Nov. 16, and Chinese phone maker OnePlus has confirmed that it won’t have wireless charging. The company’s CEO, Pete Lao, published a blog post explaining the decision and told fans that its Dash Charge fast charging technology is still superior.

“Wireless charging is an exciting concept that’s matured a lot over the last few years. But given the current state of this technology, Dash Charge is still the superior choice,” Lau said on his post in the official OnePlus forums. “Wired quick charging solutions like ours clearly outshine wireless on quantitative measures. Just plug your device in, and Dash Charge produces 20 watts of power, reliably giving a day’s power in half an hour.”

The OnePlus CEO further explained that wireless charging requires users to keep their devices perfectly aligned on a charging pad in order to get the desired charging rates and energy efficiency. Some wireless charging pads are being marketed as offering up to 15 watts of power, that is if the smartphone is properly placed on the charging pad. Lau also said that wirelessly charging more than one device on a single pad would result to slower charging times.

In an update, Lau said that he was referring to The Wireless Power Consortium’s Qi standard. The OnePlus CEO noted that Qi wireless charging is more efficient but has a limited range, while Airfuel (used mostly by Samsung and Qualcomm) is more convenient to use but is less common.

The OnePlus CEO also said that Dash Charge is able to provide users enough power for a day with just a single charge and it doesn’t affect what users are doing with their OnePlus handsets while they’re charging. Users could be gaming, streaming video or browsing through their social feeds while fast charging their smartphones.

Lau added that Dash Charge stays cools and power efficient regardless of what users are doing with their OnePlus smartphones. Lau also pointed out that Dash Charge only needs a cable and adaptor in order to work and users won’t have to worry about buying any other accessories.

“An attractive promise of wireless charging is that you can just set your phone down on a surface and charge. Nice in theory, but not as simple in reality,” Lau said. “You can’t pick up your phone to game or take a photo while charging. Given present-day infrastructures, wireless charging brings more limitations than freedom. Wireless charging pads, cases, tables, and lamps – these all add up if you want to charge on the go or outfit your home for true convenience, creating constraints for the user.”

Lau's reasoning does seem to make sense, but it doesn't make mention of the convenience of wireless charging. As pointed out by XDA, having wireless charging could benefit a lot of users by allowing them to have short but frequent intermittent charging all throughout the day. Still, the benefits of Dash Charge seems to outweigh the benefits of wireless charging.

Lau said that they actually considered using wireless charging technology for the OnePlus 5T, but simply chose not to. The CEO admitted that it was exciting to see technology advance from theory to implementation, but wireless charging is not able to provide a better experience just yet. “We'll consider adopting the wireless charging technology when the time is right. Until then, we'll stick to Dash Charge,” Lau said.

The OnePlus 5T will be announced on Nov. 16 in Brooklyn, New York and it’s expected to come with a “bezel-less” design. The new OnePlus flagship smartphone will go on sale in North America and Europe on Nov. 21. The OnePlus 5T price hasn’t been revealed yet, but a popular rumor claims that it will only cost $479, which is the same as the price of the 64GB OnePlus 5.