Samsung’s high-end phones have always featured Qi wireless charging since the Galaxy S4 days. And not much has changed in terms of charging speed and convenience. However, we may be in for a major change in the coming years as Apple’s MagSafe wireless charging standard comes to Android smartphones via the new Qi2 standard. Yes, you read that right.
WPC (Wireless Power Consortium), which led the development of the Qi wireless charging standard, announced the Qi2 standard at CES 2023 today. What’s interesting about the new wireless charging standard is that it’s based on Apple’s MagSafe technology, which attaches the charger to the device with a magnet and secures its position using a series of magnets. This means that the same magnetic alignment will come to Android smartphones, wireless headphones and other devices that use the Qi2 wireless standard in the future.
Qi2 wireless charging includes magnetic alignment similar to Apple’s MagSafe
WPC revealed that consumers and retailers often get confused between Qi-compatible and Qi-certified accessories. Qi-compatible devices are not WPC certified and may have inconsistencies in performance and quality. So, the company is working with Apple to introduce a “global standard” for wireless charging of various consumer electronic devices.
Qi2 features a new magnetic power profile that gives accessories perfect alignment, resulting in a better user experience and more efficient charging. Speaking of the effectiveness of the new wireless charging standard, XDA reports that Qi2 will initially bring 15W fast wireless charging. WPC has plans to introduce even faster, higher power wireless charging in the future.
Qi2 will start arriving on smartphones and other products towards the end of 2023. We expect it to appear on Samsung’s high-end smartphones from next year (possibly with the Galaxy S24?), as the company has always supported Qi compatibility. So it’s only natural that it upgrades to Qi2 for its future devices.
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