Fans of OnePlus may be all-too-familiar with the company's stance on wireless charging. Pete Lau went on record at MWC in February of 2019 stating that "wireless charging is far inferior" to what the company can offer via wired charging. While that may have been true for the company at the time, Xiaomi launched the Xiaomi Mi 9 at MWC with a 20W wireless charging pad - the same speed offered by OnePlus' own Dash charge. Shortly after that, OPPO, a company of which OnePlus has clearly been influenced by in the design department, joined the Wireless Power Consortium. OnePlus has now joined the Wireless Power Consortium too, which has served to further fuel rumors that the OnePlus 8 may support wireless charging.

Admittedly, this doesn't actually really prove anything. OPPO's only device which supports wireless charging is, at the moment, a prototype that was demonstrated at the company's innovation day back in December of last year. It had an under-display camera and support for 30W wireless fast charging, faster than Huawei's 27W wireless charging with the Huawei Mate 30 Pro. OPPO and OnePlus have been known to share resources, which may lend additional credence to the claim that OnePlus wants to introduce wireless charging to their smartphones.

It's also entirely possible that OnePlus may opt to entirely neglect to introduce wireless charging to the OnePlus 8, and instead may be introducing it to an accessory. With rumors abound that the OnePlus 8 will support wireless charging, though, fans are beginning to get excited. Companies that want to offer wireless charging support in their devices must join the Wireless Power Consortium, which OnePlus wasn't a member of back when OPPO joined last year.

Information is unsurprisingly scarce at the moment as to what the OnePlus 8 will exactly pack. We've already seen leaked renders of the OnePlus 8, and we know that it will likely have a 120Hz AMOLED panel. It's also likely to launch on Verizon's 5G Ultra WideBand network. Finally, we have also seen leaked renders of what appears to be the company's first mid-range smartphone since the OnePlus X. It is possible that OnePlus may forego introducing wireless charging to the OnePlus 8 Lite. Regardless, 2020 is shaping up to be an exciting year for OnePlus.


Source: Wireless Power Consortium

Via: AndroidPolice, Mobile Scout