Can charging overnight damage your phone? Here's what you need to know
There are times when many of us charge our smartphones when we go to bed at night so that we don't have a low battery at work or if we're going to travel. But if you think charging your device overnight is a good idea, you should probably think again.
If you plan on replacing smartphone every two years, leaving your device charging overnight won't do much damage to your battery. Experts say that most of the time, these people won't notice much damage to their phone before they start wishing for a new device.
However, frequent charging is damaging the lithium-ion batteries in our phones. And it's not because they can be overcharged, according to Edo Campos, a spokesman for Anker, which makes smartphone chargers.
“Smartphones are actually smart,” says Mr. Campos. “They know when to stop charging.”
In other words, smartphones are designed to understand when the battery is full and should stop absorbing additional electricity at that point.
According to a report from The New York Times, Android smartphones and Apple iPhones are equipped with a chip that protects them from absorbing excess electricity once they are fully charged.
In theory, any damage from charging your phone overnight with an original or reliable charger should be negligible.
The report says that most smartphones use technology that allows their batteries to charge faster, but this process causes lithium-ion and lithium-polymer batteries to rust faster.
If a user wants to preserve the life of their lithium-ion battery beyond the typical lifespan of a smartphone – usually two years – they can try using a charger designed for a less powerful device, the report said.
