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by jjeaff 2802 days ago
Not to mention the potential liability if a crappy charger overcharges the battery and causes a fire in someone's pocket.
1 comments

all of the battery charging control is in the battery, not the charger. The charger just generates the EM field (in this case) or a supply on traditional cables.
In a traditional wired charger, the transformer coils are in the charger. In case of wireless charging, one half of the coil is inside your phone. I am not an electrical engineer, but whatever current is induced there, you have to put it somewhere. So the argument makes some sense. Still not a nice move.
> whatever current is induced there, you have to put it somewhere.

No you don't. What is induced is an electromotive force, e.m.f., that is voltage. If the coil is open circuit then no current will flow. It's slightly more complicated than that because wireless charging uses tuned circuits not simple iron cored transformer but the general principal is the same and the control circuit in the phone can simply disconnect the coil completely in order to not accept any power.

A transformer is a two part system of two inductive coils. If you open the circuit on one end, the closed end won’t be able to induce a current into the second coil. It’s as simple as a single MOSFET controlled by some power management IC that measures current to prevent this from happening. It’s easier to prevent damage from wireless charging than it is from a physical connection.