9 best wireless chargers for topping up your iPhone and Android battery with ease

Best: Overall wireless charger

Rating: 10/10

• Dimensions: H2.1 x W23.7 x D8.6cm
• Weight: 476g
• Wattage: 15W
• Type: Pad
• Compatible with: iPhone 12 and above, Apple Watch, AirPods gen 2 and above

Belkin’s newest wireless charging pad is an absolute powerhouse when it comes to charging your three most important Apple devices – your iPhone, Apple Watch and AirPods. It’s a sleek rectangular pad that comes in white or black, featuring magnets that work with Apple’s MagSafe technology. It’s sturdily built with a nice, soft rubber top that kept our devices securely glued onto the pad, even when we accidentally knocked it over onto the floor (yes, really).

The Apple Watch charging module can be raised, so that you can use it in nightstand mode and view the clock. That magnetic fast charging module is specifically designed for the Apple Watch series 7, meaning we were able to charge our watch up to 80 per cent in roughly 45 minutes.

One weird design choice is that the magnetic circular pads for charging your iPhone and Apple Watch are both white, even if you opt for the black wireless charging pad like we did, but it’s so good that it’s something easily overlooked. We particularly appreciated the LED indicator, which told us when our AirPods were fully charged – you don’t often get this with most wireless chargers. Better yet? You get 15W of power with the included power outlet.

Best: Wireless charger for iPhone

Rating: 9/10

• Dimensions: Not specified
• Weight: Not specified
• Wattage: 15W
• Type: Pad
• Compatible with: iPhone 12 and above, AirPods 2nd gen and above

If you want to stick with official Apple products, then you can’t go wrong with the OG MagSafe charger, which charges your iPhone 12 and iPhone 13 at the fastest possible speed. It’s small, pocket-friendly and easy to use, clicking neatly onto the back of any iPhone with a magnet in it. The wire does feel a little flimsy – it’s not reinforced, but you shouldn’t need to replace this one too frequently if you run through lightning cables at, well, lightning speed. That’s because it doesn’t click into the lightning port, instead snapping onto the back, so there’s less pressure on the cable end.

As with most of the Qi wireless chargers on this list, it can charge an Android device, but it’s more suited to use with iPhones. If you just want something simple and fast, then the original MagSafe charger does the job, just make sure to pick up a high enough wattage power source as well.

Best: Wireless charger for Google Pixel devices

Rating: 9/10

• Dimensions: H11.3 x W7.16 x D8.2cm
• Weight: 71g 
• Wattage: Up to 23W
• Type: Stand
• Compatible with: Google Pixel and Qi-compatible devices

Google’s second generation Pixel stand is a fast wireless charger that Pixel 6 and 6 pro owners should consider picking up. While it works with all Qi-compatible devices, only Pixel 6 devices will get the fastest speeds – 23W for the Pixel 6 pro and 21W for the Pixel 6. Other Qi-compatible devices will get 15W of charge, which is still pretty significant.

There’s a built-in fan that helps to keep your Pixel 6 cool, a requirement if you want it to charge at the fastest speed. It’s pretty quiet and unobtrusive overall. But that’s not all, because the stand has a few more nifty features...

It doubles up as a digital photo frame. The first time you dock your phone onto the stand, Google asks you which photo albums you’d like it to display, showing your photos in a slideshow format. You can set it up so that it automatically turns on “do not disturb” mode when placed in the stand and also set up a sunrise feature, which slowly brightens your display 15 minutes before your morning alarm is about to go off.

Best: Wireless charger stand with removable power bank

Rating: 9/10

• Dimensions: 10.7 x 10.7 x 15.79cm
• Weight: 348g
• Wattage: 7.5W
• Type: Stand and power bank
• Compatible with: iPhone 12 and above, AirPods 2nd gen and above 

This magnet-compatible wireless charger might look small, but it’s one of the best wireless charging stands we’ve tested in terms of design. It’s not only a wireless charging stand that magnetically holds your iPhone in either portrait or landscape mode, but that pad which you rest your iPhone on doubles up as a 5,000mAh power bank that can actually be removed as well. And that’s not all, because the base of the stand acts as an AirPods wireless charger too, so even if you’ve taken the power bank off, you can still use the stand to charge your AirPods.

With most third-party chargers, you’re only going to be able to get 7.5W of power, and that’s what you get with the Anker MagGo, despite shipping with a 25W power adapter in the box. That’s because while it uses magnets, it’s not actually MagSafe certified like the Belkin boostup charge pro (£139.99, Belkin.com).

Best: Wireless charger for Android

Rating: 9/10

• Dimensions: D5.6 x W5.6 x H0.5cm
• Weight: 47g 
• Wattage: 15W for Android, 7.5W for iPhone
• Type: Pad
• Compatible with: Android and iPhone

If you’ve got an Android phone and feel a little envious of Apple’s magnetic charging system, fret not, because Mophie has designed a wireless charger that works in a similar way for both.

Mophie calls this functionality “snap+”, and it’s integrated into the company’s snap+ wireless charger. Like the MagSafe charger, it includes an array of magnets for any iPhone to attach to, but if you don’t have an iPhone with MagSafe, then the included snap adapter performs just as well. Best of all, it’s easy to attach to the back of any Android phone or case. This essentially adds magnetic capabilities to any smartphone.

The charger itself is actually better at charging Android devices than iPhones, with the pad juicing up an Android device with 15W of power and an iPhone with 7.5W of power. It’s small, portable, well-built and extremely easy to use.

Best: Wireless charger with in-built sanitiser

Rating: 8/10

• Dimensions: H3.5 x W19.9 x D11.8cm
• Weight: 440g 
• Wattage: 10W
• Type: Pad
• Compatible with: iPhone and Android

There are a bunch of two-in-one and three-in-one wireless chargers around, capable of charging multiple devices at once, but this wireless charger from Belkin is a different kind of two-in-one. Clearly designed for our post-Covid world, it’s a UV sanitising box first and foremost that doubles up as a wireless charger.

Roughly the size of a thick paperback book, it opens up to reveal a UV-C light chamber. Belkin says it’s able to sanitise non-porous items, such as phones, keys, wallets, cards and cash. Basically, if it can fit in the UV light chamber, then it can reportedly remove 99.99 per cent of bacteria. There are two settings – a three-minute quick clean or a 15-minute deep clean. It’s silent and easy to use, and comes with an 18W power outlet.

Once you close the lid, you can pop any Qi-enabled device on top of the box and charge it, with it delivering up to 10W of power. It’s not the best-looking thing in the world, and it’s a bit of a clunky device to throw in your bag, but it’s a pretty clever piece of kit that charged our phone up fast.

Our one wish? That it could charge our phone while sanitising it at the same time. You can sanitise your keys and wallet in the UV chamber while charging your phone, but popping your phone into the UV chamber won’t charge it.

Best: Portable wireless charger with kickstand

Rating: 8/10

• Dimensions: H6cm x W6 x D0.7cm
• Weight: 86.46g 
• Wattage: 7.5W
• Type: Puck/stand
• Compatible with: iPhone

This wireless charger is the cleverest little puck we’ve tested. While some manufacturers have made full wireless charging stands, ESR has opted for a portable little puck, featuring a metal kickstand which means you can prop up your iPhone while it’s charging. Think of it as a copy of the official MagSafe charger, just with a better design.

You will need an ESR halolock-compatible case or a caseless iPhone to use this one, or it will just keep sliding off the back, but it’s great for chucking into your bag. It’s extremely well-built, featuring a nice hardy metal kickstand that clicks securely into a hole in the rear, helping it stay flush with the puck when not in use. It’s meant to be used horizontally, so don’t be surprised if it falls over when attached vertically.

With just 7.5W charging power, it’s not the fastest wireless charger in the world, so if you want your phone to charge super quickly, opt for the official charger.

Best: Wireless charger for design

Rating: 8/10

• Dimensions: H18.1 x W4.6 x D12.4cm
• Weight: 610g 
• Wattage: 10W
• Type: Photo frame stand
• Compatible with: iPhone and Android 

Let’s be frank, wireless chargers aren’t the best-looking things in the world. While they’re a nice convenience, they take up a lot of surface room on tabletops, and can get in the way when you actually want to use it for something other than charging. Twelve South’s powerpic mod is clever because it hides a wireless charger inside a photo frame.

You can use the powerpic mod as if it were an actual picture frame, placing it in either portrait or landscape orientations. It fits photos that are 4x6 in size, while also allowing you to charge your phone on top of it. It’s really neat and has a nice clear frame. However, it is a little fiddly putting photos inside the magnetic cover – you need to really align it properly or the edges will stick out, and you might struggle with photos that are printed on thicker paper, but when it works, it works well.

It doesn’t charge very fast, only providing 10W for Android devices and 7.5W for iPhones. You also need to use a 20W adapter (not included in the box) or your speeds will be even slower.

Best: Wireless charger smart speaker

Rating: 7/10

• Dimensions: H16.8 x W16.2 x D16.2cm
• Weight: 1.25kg 
• Wattage: 10W
• Type: Speaker
• Compatible with: iPhone and Android 

Some wireless chargers can take up a lot of room, especially with limited space on your bedside table, which is why this product from Belkin is such a neat idea. The Belkin soundform elite is a smart speaker with an integrated wireless charger on the top. It’s a fat cylindrical thing that looks like its upper body has been sliced in half, but it’s actually not as hideous as that description sounds.

With a speaker engineered by French audio company Devialet and two far-field microphones for Alexa integration, the soundform elite lets you play music with just your voice and charges your phone at the same time, keeping your nightstand clutter-free. It features a 35mm full range driver and a dual 70mm woofer setup, so this speaker gets loud. That said, we did find it to be a little too shrill when it came to the high frequencies and a little too boisterous in the bass – though the single-purpose Alexa speakers perform much better.

Sadly, it only charges iPhones at 7.5W, Samsung phones at 9W, and Google devices at 10W, so we didn’t get the fastest charging speeds when testing this machine, but it’s not too big of a deal, considering we placed it on the top of the speaker to charge overnight. And considering the acoustics – let’s be real, it’s a speaker first and foremost – are a little lacklustre, it’s pretty expensive when purchased from Belkin directly. Although it is frequently on sale at third-party retailers. Ultimately though, you’ll be hard-pressed to find an Alexa-enabled speaker with a built-in Qi charger better than this one.