Samsung committed itself on Monday to integrating Qi2 wireless charging into its Galaxy line of Android-based smartphones. It’s been dragging its feet for years, while the last four generations of iPhone models all support the standard.
Samsung’s just-announced adoption of Qi2 should benefit iPhone users, who until now have been the only ones able to take advantage of the new standard. More handsets using the magnetically enhanced wireless charging capability should lead to more accessories that employ it. More cross-platform accessories are a win for everyone.
Qi2 = MagSafe for Samsung and others
Apple adopted the original Qi wireless charging standard with the iPhone 8, but significantly improved it with MagSafe starting with the iPhone 12. The alternative version puts magnets around the wireless charging coil to automatically align the iPhone to compatible accessories.
The Wireless Power Consortium developed Qi, and liked Apple’s improvement so much it built it into Qi2. Apple immediately adopted it, and every iOS device going back to the iPhone 12 supports it.
Android… not so much. But that’ll change soon. Samsung announced on Monday, “The exceptional Qi2 growth story will continue in 2025. You can expect to see Android devices supporting Qi2 from Samsung Galaxy devices in 2025.”
While the Korean company didn’t get any more specific, the Galaxy S25 Ultra is rumored to launch later in January, and it could well include Qi2. With an expected $1,300 price tag, Samsung should build in every feature it can.
Monday’s announcement is timed to coincide with CES 2025, going on this week in Las Vegas. Accessory-makers like Belkin and others are using the giant trade show to unveil products that only work with Qi2-enabled devices, and the Wireless Power Consortium apparently twisted Samsung’s arm to get it to talk about plans to adopt the standard.
Google is on board too
Samsung isn’t the only one out with an announcement to make the WPC happy.
“Google is committed to the Qi2 wireless charging standard and increasing the penetration of Qi2 into Android handsets and other devices. Google is helping to achieve this goal by playing a leading role in the development of the upcoming Qi v2.2 standard, which includes Google’s contribution of its own high-power wireless charging technology to WPC,” Google said Monday.
Source: Wireless Power Consortium
