Apple’s MagSafe wireless charging could soon come to Samsung phones via Qi2 standard

Samsung's high-end phones have always featured Qi wireless charging since the Galaxy S4 days. And not a lot has changed in terms of charging speed and convenience. However, we could be in for a significant change in the coming years as Apple's MagSafe wireless charging standard is coming to Android smartphones via the new Qi2 standard. Yes, you've read that right.

The WPC (Wireless Power Consortium), which governs 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 is based on Apple's MagSafe technology, which magnetically attaches the charger to the device and secures its position using a series of magnets. It means the same magnetic alignment will come to Android smartphones, wireless earbuds, and other devices that use the Qi2 wireless standard in the future.

Qi2 wireless charging features magnetic alignment, similar to Apple's MagSafe

The WPC revealed that consumers and retailers often got confused between Qi-compatible and Qi-certified accessories. Qi-compatible devices are not certified by the WPC and might have performance and quality inconsistencies. So, the company worked with Apple to bring a “global standard” of wireless charging to various consumer electronic devices.

Qi2 features a new Magnetic Power Profile that gives accessories a perfect alignment, which results in a better user experience and more efficient charging. Speaking of the new wireless charging standard's efficiency, XDA reports that Qi2 will bring 15W of fast wireless charging initially. The WPC has plans to bring even faster wireless charging with higher wattage in the future.

Qi2 will start arriving on smartphones and other products towards the end of 2023. We expect it to come on Samsung's high-end smartphones starting next year (probably with Galaxy S24?) as the company has always maintained Qi compatibility. So, it is natural for it to upgrade to Qi2 for its future devices.