If you plan to upgrade your smartphone every two years, leaving your device to charge overnight will not do much damage to your battery. Experts say majority of the time those people are not going to notice much damage to their smartphone batteries before they start wishing for a new device. However, frequent charging does damage the lithium-ion batteries in our smartphones. And it’s not because they can be overcharged, said Edo Campos, a spokesman for Anker, which produces smartphone chargers. “Smartphones are, in fact, smart,” Mr. Campos said. “They know when to stop charging.” In other words, smartphones are designed to understand when the battery is at capacity, and should at that point stop absorbing additional electrical current. According to a report by The New York Times, Android smartphones and Apple iPhones are equipped with chips that protect them from absorbing excess electrical current once they are fully charged. Theoretically, any damage from charging your smartphone overnight with an official charger, or a trustworthy off-brand charger, should be negligible. The report stated that most smartphones use technology that allows their batteries to charge faster, but this process leads to lithium-ion and lithium-polymer batteries rusting faster. If a user wants to preserve the life of their lithium-ion battery beyond the typical lifetime of a smartphone – usually two years – they can try using a charger made for a less-powerful device, stated the report.
