There are a lot of questions about cell phone batteries. Should you leave your smartphones plugged in overnight? Is it bad for the phone? Bad for your safety? What s the right thing to do?
In fact, how much should you charge your phone? When s the right time to plug in? Should it go down to zero every time? Up to 100%? How do you get the longest life out of the battery inside a smartphone? Does it really matter if you re only going to keep the handset around for a couple of years before an upgrade?
The debate goes well beyond the worry of moderate harm to a device, as some people have fears of overloading a smartphone battery. That worry seems relatively justified since it was only a few years ago that Samsung s Galaxy Note 7s were bursting into flame due to battery issues. But as we ve explained before, unless a device has some serious manufacturing defects like that phone did, the fire-in-your-pocket (or on the nightstand) aspect is unlikely.