It’s 2025 and we’re still charging phones the same way as a decade ago. Yes, we now have magnetic wireless charging technology, but the process is practically still the same. We connect our smartphones to an external object, be it an actual charger or power bank, with or without cables, and wait for our phones to fully charge. We’ve become so accustomed to that system that we barely question now whether it couldn’t be better.
Fortunately, someone did question that “reality,” leading to what could be one of the oddest yet also most ingenious phone chargers to pop into the scene, almost literally. Yes, it does look like a toaster, and yes, you do insert your phone into a slot and some toaster-like actions happen inside. But if the technology and the design ever mature and become stable, it could change the way we think about phone chargers and batteries for good.
Designer: Swippitt
OK, your phone doesn’t literally charge in around two seconds. Swippitt basically wraps your iPhone in a case called the “Swippitt Link” that has a battery inside that keeps your phone topped up all the time. That part isn’t exactly new, with the likes of Mophie cornering that market almost a decade ago. What’s new is that the extra battery is replaceable, and you don’t even have to do it yourself.
What you do is dip half the phone, encased in the Swippitt Link, of course, inside the Swippitt Hub, and wait for a few seconds for the mechanism inside to push out the dying battery pack and slide a fresh one in. The Hub has room for up to five of these batteries so, presuming there’s one always near you, you practically have zero downtime charging your phone or charging the battery that charges your phone.
Admittedly, the appeal of Swippitt won’t be immediately evident to most people, but those with multiple people inside a single household might appreciate it. It means family members, especially kids, can quickly get their phone “charged” before they step out the door, giving parents some peace of mind. Of course, there’s also an app that lets you monitor the charging status of the batteries inside the Hub as well as how many times it swapped them out.
Just with battery cases, the biggest obstacle to the mass adoption of such a system is that the Swippitt Link has to be designed for each and every supported phone model. At the moment, that’s only the iPhone 14, 15, and 16 series, with Samsung Galaxy flagships being added later this year. Less popular models probably have little hope of being invited to the party unless Swippitt designs a universal case that will work based on phone sizes, not models. There’s also the rather steep price tag of $450 for the toaster Hub and $120 for the Link, prices that could eventually go down if the technology gets adopted more widely.
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