You know about Qi charging, the open wireless charging standard that charges up your phone when you lay it on a special charge pad. But wait until you meet Qi2. It’s faster at charging your phone, and its use of magnets will allow Android phones and iPhones to live in relative harmony, at least regarding accessories.
The Wireless Power Consortium (WPC), the governing body over the Qi standard, announced in a press release that the first batch of Qi v2.0, or Qi2, products will be available in time for holiday shopping. Apple’s iPhone 15/15 Pro is the first to host the standard, while Belkin, Mophie, Anker, and Aircharge have also announced Qi2 products in time for the season.
The WPC debuted Qi2 at CES at the start of the year. It promises faster wireless charging that will “pave the way for significant future increases in wireless charging speeds” safely and energy-efficiently. The standard includes documentation for magnet use set by Apple’s Magnetic Power Profile.
This will hopefully mean the propagation of MagSafe-compatible Android smartphones and accessories since Qi2 opens up the ring of magnets to Android phone makers. The WPC said at Qi2’s debut that the standard would open the market to “new accessories” that couldn’t take advantage of the spec before.
MagSafe accessories are my favourite, and they needed standardization. Apple wanted folks to license the snap-on magnet tech, but manufacturers figured out how to offer the effect more cheaply with the same magnets. Even PopSockets has its version of the magnetic ring that you can adhere to an Android case to fake compatibility. I’m more partial to the third-party Amazon knockoffs that embed the magnet inside the plastic. The PopSockets version is just a magnet stuck to the back of a phone case. It’s not chic, and it leaves the MagSafe ring exposed.
The good news is that Qi2’s arrival will likely beget Android-compatible MagSafe accessories on the horizon. Or at least I hope so. It’s been rough being a devoted Green Bubble in this polarizing landscape. But once I started buying fake MagSafe cases, my life simplified ten-fold—at least regarding phone accessories. It’s also neat to use the Apple-centered Belkin BoostCharge Pro with the Pixel 8 sporting faux MagSafe—the only thing missing is iOS’s Standby mode.
Some compatible products are still “completing” certification testing in time for the next generation of device launches. As 9to5Google’s Ben Schoon points out, a MagSafe-compatible Android smartphone is likely on the horizon sooner than we think.