Belkin Boost Up wireless charging pad

£54.95 FROM Belkin, belkin.co.uk features 7.5W charging, 11.9cm diameter Design

Casually glance in Boost Up’s direction as you set down a cup of tea and you might mistake it for a saucer. Its body is slightly wider at the top than the bottom, with a grippy rubber ring on top for your iPhone, and the same material on the bottom to stop slippage. Its diameter is the better fit of these mats for iPhone 8 Plus, but still with overhang.

Power adaptor & cable

Under the pad’s rim is a small cavity for connecting the mains cable. The other end of the (non-detachable) cable runs into the plug’s top; a sensible decision from Belkin as it means you won’t have trouble with a wall socket that’s low to the ground. A pinhole-sized light on top, near the rim, illuminates only when power is being transferred.

Value

The Apple Store’s asking price was the going rate for these two mats wherever we looked. The convenience of inductive charging carries a premium: for £19, Apple’s 12W USB adaptor offers faster charging, should you value topping up quickly; we don’t deny the appeal of simply laying down your iPhone in a living room setting, though.

Charging

We tested without the iPhone in a case, and with iOS 11.2 installed, which allows mats to deliver 7.5W to the iPhone. As expected, it took a long time (3 hours 37 minutes) to go from 0 to 100% – significantly longer than Apple’s optional 12W cabled charger, and closer to the full-charge duration of the 5W one Apple bundles with iPhones.