What to Buy
Are These the Most Beautiful Phone Chargers Ever?
TL,DR: yes.
There are few things more useful to me than my phone; I’m rarely ever without it, even around the house. On the other hand, there are few things more annoying than the tangled mass that is my phone charger. Wait, is that my husband’s? I can’t tell, it’s all a jumbled mess.
But a few years ago, I started upgrading my wired situation to a series of wireless chargers from Courant that were actually chic and stylish, and I’ve never looked back. In fact, I’ve got three of ‘em.
As a pre-pandemic frequent traveler, I started with the Carry, a portable battery that would keep my phone powered up to take as many photos as its storage would allow. The dusty pink meant it was easy to find in the dark depths of my purse or tote, and the pebbled leather offered more grip and style than the smooth, hard plastic you’d find with other electronic brands like Anker or Jackery, from which I have plenty of chargers as well.
The weighted non-slip bottom also meant it didn’t slide around on trains, planes, and automobiles. The charger is Qi-enabled, a wireless charging standard that most, if not all, phone manufacturers adhere to; and can fast-charge so I don’t have to keep it on for long before my phone is back up to 100 percent. At night, I’d charge the battery pack via USB cable (guess you can’t escape all cords), and during the day, I’d be able to get two full phone charges from it while being out and about. Technically, you could also charge it wirelessly if you had another wireless charger, but that was too meta for traveling.
However, I do have another wireless charger that I use at home—two, in fact. The first is the Catch:2, which is also Qi-enabled and charges up to two devices at the same time. It sits on my desk where my husband and I can charge our phones, or I can charge my phone and my earbuds without getting tangled up in cords.
At any given moment, there are about seven cables by our desk for laptops, external monitors, Fitbit watches, and more, so if there’s a way to cut down on the cords, I’ll take it. I have this in the dusty pink pebbled leather (again), both of which add color and texture to an otherwise utilitarian WFH set-up. Unfortch, the pink shade has been discontinued, but there are five other leather shades and three linen ones, so there are plenty of other combos to suit your space.
My latest Courant charger is the Catch:3, a Qi-enabled wireless charging pad complete with a generously-sized catch-all tray. It’s also my current fave because of its versatility, and the natural linen is a nice departure from the pink. The Catch:3 holds court on my nightstand where it conveniently keeps my phone and essentials like my Laneige Lip Sleeping Mask, Weleda Skin Food, and hair ties nearby. It’s also just slightly smaller than my nightstand so it prevents me from bringing in too many things and creating clutter. However, it only powers up one device so my poor husband stays stuck with a million and one cords on his side of the bed.
Now, don’t get me wrong, I still have a mess of cables and I’m looking at one right now, but updating to sleek wireless chargers has slowly transformed an unattractive, yet completely utilitarian, gadget to something a bit more thoughtful and streamlined. And isn’t that what you want in something you use all day, every day?
See what other Food52 readers are saying.