The OnePlus 11 is the company's latest Android flagship, which comes with a blistering fast 80W charger, but does it support wireless charging? OnePlus dubbed itself the "Flagship Killer'' when it first arrived, offering top-end specs at an affordable price. Its smartphone pricing has been more in line with competing flagships in recent years but also offered little to no compromise in hardware and software features. The OnePlus 11 is no different, with impressive specifications like the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 SoC, a 6.7-inch OLED display, triple cameras, and a 5,000mAh battery.
So, it is odd that the new OnePlus 11 doesn’t support wireless charging when all other flagship devices it competes with have the feature. It's especially surprising because releases like the OnePlus 10 Pro, 9 Pro, and 8 Pro all supported wireless charging. OnePlus stands out from the crowd by being one of the few still to include a wired charger with their high-end smartphone, though. The 80W charger (or 100W in some markets) included with the OnePlus 11 can fully charge the 5,000mAh battery in around 25 minutes, which is incredibly fast.
Why No Wireless Charging On OnePlus 11
OnePlus's fast charging capability has been a game changer and has only gotten faster over the years, giving its flagships a significant advantage over the competition. While all competitors offer wireless charging, their wired charging speeds are nowhere near the OnePlus 11's 80W or 100W charger. According to OnePlus, the fast-wired charger included with the OnePlus 11 can charge a battery for a day's worth of use in minutes, eliminating the need for slower wireless charging.
However, it still feels like OnePlus made a poor decision by omitting wireless charging on its flagship, particularly since it had a unique solution here too. The OnePlus 10 Pro came with a staggering 50W wireless charging speed with OnePlus' official wireless charger. While not as fast as the possible wired charging speed, OnePlus' wireless charging solution was significantly faster than the 15W charging available with its competition.
Like with the OnePlus 11 having a Gorilla Glass 5 panel on the back, the lack of wireless charging seems like a cost-cutting measure. The OnePlus 11's price tag undercuts devices like the iPhone 14 series, Samsung Galaxy S23 range, and Pixel 7 series. But it still feels "less than" because of the lack of the now standard flagship feature.
The charging speed may not be good, but there are advantages to having wireless charging. The option to simply drop the phone on a charging pad is convenient. A wireless charging pad is also becoming a common automotive feature addition for most automobile manufacturers, so a smartphone supporting the same would be an ideal choice.
As is typical of OnePlus, the OnePlus 11 hits the nail on the head with the concept of providing the best phone specs and features at a comparatively affordable price. But while it has a lot of going for it, the OnePlus 11 may fall just short of being considered one of the best Android flagship smartphones around because of a handful of surprising compromises.
Source: OnePlus