OnePlus takes wrap off its first wireless charger before launch on April 14

Chinese electronics maker OnePlus is gearing up to launch the OnePlus 8-series smartphones on April 14. Apart from the smartphones, the company will also introduce a fast-wireless charging cradle, confirming that the upcoming phones will be the first in OnePlus history to support wireless charging. 

The company's founder and CEO Pete Lau on Tuesday posted a tweet with a link to the blog post that covers in detail the wireless charging cradle. Named the Warp Charge 30 Wireless, it is a standee-based wireless charger that is touted to support 30W fast charging, which is equivalent to existing wire-based charging solution that comes with OnePlus smartphone.

The Warp Charge 30 Wireless has a peak output of up to 30W, which ensures that your device battery charge goes from one per cent to 50 per cent in half an hour, said the company in a blog post. The statement also detailed how the company designed the fast-wireless charger.

According to the blog post, the highly effective charge pump ensures a charge efficiency of 97 per cent and minimises the amount of energy converted into heat. Designed with similar functionalities to that of a kill switch, the isolated charge pump deactivates charging when abnormal currents and voltages are detected. This function helps to maintain a stable charge and keeps phone safe while powering up.

To improve charging efficiency and maintain a high-power charge for a longer period, the company utilised Warp wireless direct charging architecture, which enables real time communication between the wireless charger and the phone through a customised chip. The chip assists in controlling the charger’s current and voltage to maximize overall efficiency.

While the company did not share details on whether its fast-wireless charger will be compatible with other smartphones, it did mention that the OnePlus 8-series smartphones will be compatible with Qi wireless charging protocols. Therefore, the upcoming smartphones will be compatible with most wireless chargers available in the market today.

Recently, the company also shared details on key specifications of the OnePlus 8-series smartphones. The OnePlus 8-series will support 5G connectivity. It will boast a display of an enhanced refresh rate of 120Hz. The display on OnePlus 8-series has already been rated A+ by an independent rating agency DisplayMate. Powering the phone will be Qualcomm Snapdragon 865 system-on-chip, mated with latest LPDDR5 RAM and UFS 3.0 storage.