Finally, Android phones are starting to add Qi2 wireless charging, but with one major caveat. You need a case to take full advantage of Qi2.
That’s right. Android phones like the Galaxy S25 series technically support Qi2 wireless charging. This is the new standard for wireless charging that allows you to charge at up to 25W, using magnets to keep the wireless charger aligned properly. That’s cool, but Samsung did not include the magnets inside the Galaxy S25, Galaxy S25 Plus or Galaxy S25 Ultra. So to take full advantage of the Qi2 standard, you need to buy a case.
Most people are going to buy a case for their $1300 Galaxy S25 Ultra. But the fact that Apple figured out how to put magnets into their phones almost five years ago, makes Samsung’s excuse hold less water. However, understandable on the Galaxy S25 Ultra, because magnets can and do affect the S Pen. However, the Galaxy S25 and S25 Plus do not offer S Pen functionality. So, Samsung decided to go with a “Qi2 Ready” design, which allows buyers to add Qi2 through cases if they wish.
Despite being “Qi2 Ready” the Galaxy S25 series does still charge wirelessly at up to 15W. When Qi2 maxes out at 25W. So Samsung is essentially avoiding the entire Qi2 standard with the Galaxy S25 series. And they aren’t alone.
So far, the only Android phone with magnets built-in is the $499 HMD Skyline. Which completely blows my mind.
OnePlus didn’t add magnets nor Qi2
With the OnePlus 13, the company added MagSafe support, not Qi2. Instead, OnePlus decided to stick with their AirVOOC wireless charging. Their own AirVOOC wireless charger is able to charge the OnePlus 13 wirelessly at up to 50W. Which is pretty incredible for a wireless charger, though that does also mean you’re getting a huge fan to help keep the phone cool.
It’s cool, but incompatible with almost any other phone. Unless you’re using other BBK smartphones from OPPO, realme or Vivo, the 50W wireless charger from OnePlus won’t work very well on other phones. Because they aren’t using a universal standard like Qi2. It’s honestly my only issue with OnePlus and OPPO’s charging speeds. Is that you need to use their chargers, which typically is a USB-A charging brick. Luckily, OnePlus does include it in the box, however, if you want to use another one elsewhere in your home or office, you’ll need to buy another one.
Thankfully, this year, OnePlus did increase the charging speeds over USB-C PD, so it’s not as dreadfully slow as before. However, we would still greatly appreciate OnePlus sticking with more universal standards like Qi2.
OnePlus told us during our briefing of the OnePlus 13 and 13R, that they decided not to put magnets inside the phone because they’d rather use that space for a larger battery. And they sure did, both of these phones pack a 6,000mAh capacity battery. Currently the largest capacity battery available in a smartphone in the US.
Apple added magnets without any problems, in 2020
During the pandemic, Apple announced the iPhone 12. This brought in a lot of changes, like being the first 5G iPhone, but also adding MagSafe. Since that announcement, I’ve fallen in love with MagSafe and all of the great accessories available. This isn’t just about charging your phone, as you can also have a MagSafe Wallet, or a MagSafe Tripod, among many other things. Moft actually makes quite a few really interesting accessories that are MagSafe, including a little notepad and a tiny pen.
Apple is notoriously late with adding features, but somehow they were many, many years ahead of Android OEMs. After Apple added MagSafe to the iPhone, the Wireless Power Consortium decided that using magnets was a good idea as it solved quite a few problems, and added it to the Qi2 standard.
Qi2 is still relatively new, as the standard was unveiled by the Wireless Power Consortium in 2023, it wasn’t finalized until January 2024. So we’re looking at just over a year of it being a standard. And every iPhone since the iPhone 12 supports Qi2. Whereas you can count the number of Android phones that support it, on one hand.
How long do we need to wait for more Qi2 phones?
We’re hopeful that we will see more Qi2-compatible phones launching this year. However, we are not expecting to see many with magnets built in. We’re expecting to continue seeing them be “Qi2 Ready” meaning you can get a Qi2-compatible case to use the new Qi2 speeds.
Android manufacturers would be smart to add Qi2, even without a case. This opens up a huge range of accessories for their brand-new phone, which they don’t have to do anything other than add a magnetic ring. If you go onto Amazon and search for “MagSafe” there are so many great accessories available, ranging from pretty inexpensive to over $100.