5 Wireless Chargers You Can Add To Your Desk And Side Tables

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At first glance, wireless smartphone charging may seem like a gimmick or something that has little utility outside of very specific use cases, but there's much more to it than that. The primary use for wireless charging is the way that — for someone who uses their phone a lot — having a charging pad on their desk or nightstand is something that can quickly become second nature, making sure that you're topping up your phone all the time without having to think much about it.

On top of that, there's a very good argument that it's worth getting a cheap wireless charger to keep handy for a proverbial rainy day. If your phone's USB port breaks or some moisture seeps into it that temporarily prevents you from using a wired charger, then wireless charging will be the only way to charge that phone until it's repaired or dried out, respectively.

This means that even if you've never given much thought to buying a wireless charger, there's a very good argument that it's worth it. With that in mind, let's take a look at five options for wireless chargers that would be great additions to the tabletop of any smartphone owner.

Belkin's branding has long carried a reputation for high-quality computing accessories, and its chargers are no different. In going through various professional reviewers' lists of the best wireless chargers, the Belkin BoostCharge line was represented on almost all of them, and individual reviews from the series are solid, as well.

At The Wirecutter, the BoostCharge line's 10W wireless charging stand was rated the best wireless charger. Retailing for $34.99 but usually available for several dollars less at Best Buy and Amazon, it performed the fastest of any wireless charger the site tested on both iPhones and Android phones, and it's certified safe by the Wireless Power Consortium. It was also noted that the stand-style charger keeps your phone better aligned with the charging coils than a charging pad is capable of.

Among other professional reviewers, CNN Underscored, for example, listed multiple BoostCharge models among the best wireless chargers, including a 15W stand that retails for $44.99 at Amazon and a MagSafe-capable stand for Apple devices that can charge three items at once that goes for $154 at Amazon as of this writing. ZDNet listed the aforementioned 15W stand as the best wireless charger for Samsung phones other than the Samsung-branded and Samsung-certified models. At the same time, Tom's Guide ranked Belkin's $150 three-in-one charging pad as the best wireless charger overall. In addition, individual reviews from Mac Rumours, CNN, Apple Insider, and Digital Trends about various BoostCharge products were very positive, with Digital Trends giving an "editors' choice"-style recommendation.

Whatever model you get, it seems like you can't go wrong with Belkin BoostCharge.

Another veteran mobile accessory company that has a strong track record of consensus positive reviews for its wireless chargers is mophie. Founded by Ben Kaufman of Melville, New York, when he was a college student and named after his golden retrievers, Molly and Sophie, mophie has been a major player in this space since its mid-2000s launch. In particular, various chargers from across its product line appear on major "best wireless chargers" lists. 

The Wirecutter and ZDNet, for example, both singled out mophie as making the best multi-device chargers, especially for Apple products, with Wired also offering up similar praise. CNN praised mophie's basic 15W charging pad ($49.99 MSRP but usually available for much less) for having an indicator light that didn't stay on the whole time it was active, while Popular Mechanics also threw in a recommendation for the same charger on its own best wireless charger list. CNET, meanwhile, singled out mophie's Snap+ Powerstation ($69.99 MSRP) as the best MagSafe-compatible wireless charger with a kickstand.

As for traditional individual product reviews, PC World gave high marks to the basic charging pad, with the only negative singled out being that it's marketed towards Apple users despite being a standard Qi charger. Mac Rumors and Apple Insider also both recommended the three-in-one charging pad. All told, it looks like mophie can be relied on as a company making high-quality wireless chargers, whether fully standardized Qi chargers or MagSafe compatible chargers aimed specifically at Apple users.

Our first step in narrowing this list down was to comb through "best wireless charger" lists on websites that review tech products professionally while keeping an eye on which brands, lines, and models showed up across multiple lists. The same brand showing up across multiple lists was good, the same product line appearing on multiple lists was even better, and the same SKU still made it onto multiple lists. From there, we also sought out individual professional reviews independent of the "best" lists to supplement the consensus praise we could collate.

We also made the call that, for the most part, we would try to avoid the generic, Chinese-made chargers common on Amazon and eBay with all sorts of brand names that often feel like a completely random array of letters. The exception was Yootech: Though it looks like it may be a company that rebadges generic chargers, it was singled out in enough "best wireless charger" lists and the subject of enough positive professional reviews that it seemed more than worthy enough to be included. 

None of this should mean that we think that the "alphabet soup" brands are all bad, but they're harder to pin down a consensus opinion on for a list like this. If you find chargers like that with plenty of positive user reviews that seem entirely legitimate, then you should still feel free to buy them.