Most Americans still charge their phones two or more times each day

On Nov 10, 2022

OnePlus today announced the results of a consumer study compiled by The NPD Group. This study captured the responses from 1,000 U.S. consumers who have purchased a smartphone priced at $600 and up over the last 12 months. The survey revealed that even in this era of larger smartphone batteries, users are charging their handsets multiple times per day and 43% are frustrated with how long it takes their phone’s battery to charge. 69% have to charge their device at least twice a day.

The majority of those responding to a survey said that they leave their phone plugged in for at least 40 minutes

Most people (64%) prefer to charge their phone overnight, while 33% are fearful that charging overnight or charging frequently will result in damage to the battery. It’s no surprise that the vast majority of stateside smartphone users charge at home (93%). About half as popular is the car (45%) or charging on a bus, subway, or on other forms of public transport.

The OnePlus 10T features 125W charging in North America

Perhaps somewhat surprisingly, only 32% said that they replenish their phone’s battery at work while 15% have their phone plugged into an outlet while doing activities (hiking, shopping, attending a concert, going to a restaurant). Just a tad fewer, 14%, charge up at school. That could be due to bans on students carrying phones being initiated by many school districts. And 8% will charge their phones while flying.

64% of those responding to the survey will leave their handset plugged in for at least 40 minutes and 63% worry that their battery will die on them when they are out, fearful that they won’t be able to find a place to plug in their charger. Here’s something that phone manufacturers need to see. 97% of the respondents said that they would be interested in a phone that charges in less than 20 minutes. OnePlus notes that its OnePlus 10T handset includes a 125W charger in North America that charges the unit’s 4800mAh battery in 20 minutes.

75% of survey respondents say that it is important for a new phone to come with a cable and charger in the box

There are various ways to charge a phone and 88% of those responding to the survey said that they use a wired charger to power up their handset. 46% employ a car charger, 28% use wireless charging, and 19% rely on a power bank. The latter number seems low.

Hey Apple, Google, and Samsung, over 75% of those answering the survey said that it is important for a new phone to come with a wall charger and charging cable in the box. Last month, Apple was hit with a $19 million fine in Brazil for not including a charger in the box with its new iPhone models. Apple’s usual defense that it removed the charger to help the environment was not a winner for the company, at least in that country.

OnePlus states that thanks to the “charger not included” mentality of phone manufacturers, 193 million charging devices were purchased over the last year. This made the “Mobile Charging” category (including cables, power banks, car chargers, etc.) the second largest consumer electronics category in the states with an industry valuation of close to $3.2 billion. A related stat released by OnePlus shows that 59% of people buying a new phone will buy mobile power accessories at the same time.

And this information dovetails with a statement made by Robin Liu, CEO of OnePlus North America. Liu said, “Many smartphone device manufacturers have removed charging units from their smartphone boxes and engineered a new revenue stream, all from sales of their own charging devices. Rather than investing in R&D to improve charging efficiency and battery life, leading device manufacturers have maintained the status quo while burdening consumers with additional costs.”

And how much are those additional costs? For an iPhone, a Type-C power adapter will cost you $19. For a Pixel 7, a 30W Google USB-C charger is priced at $25. And a 25W USB-C power adapter for a Samsung Galaxy phone is $34.99 although this price includes a USB-C to USB-C cable.

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