Wireless charging isn’t truly wireless, of course. Your phone, smart watch, tablet, wireless headphones, or other device doesn’t need to be plugged into the charger with a wire, but the wireless charger itself still has to be plugged into a wall outlet to function. Wireless chargers typically use magnetic induction. The short explanation is that they use magnetism to transmit energy. First, you place the device like a smartphone on the wireless charger. The current coming from the wall power outlet moves through the wire in the wireless charger, creating a magnetic field. The magnetic field creates a current in the coil inside the device sitting on the wireless charger. This magnetic energy is converted to electrical energy, which is used to charge the battery. Devices must have the appropriate hardware in them to support wireless charging a device without the necessary coil can’t charge wirelessly. While the Qi standard was originally limited to magnetic induction, it now also supports magnetic resonance. This works similarly, but the device can be up to 45mm away from the wireless charger’s surface rather than touching it directly. This is less efficient than magnetic induction, but there are some advantages for example, a wireless charger could be mounted under a table’s surface and you could place a device on the table to charge it. It also allows you to place multiple devices on a single charging pad, and have all of them charge at once. When not actively charging, the Qi charger doesn’t consume the maximum amount of power. Instead, it uses a smaller amount of power and, when it detects a device is placed on the charger, it increases the energy output.