Google Pixelsnap Charger with Stand The Pixelsnap Charger with Stand offers a clean aesthetic and a very solid and hefty build quality. Unfortunately, it has a non-removable 1m USB-C cable and doesn't allow for any stand adjustment or portability. It promises 25W of Qi2.2 wireless charging, but fails to deliver that power consistently over a full charge, often dropping to slower Qi2 15W charging speeds.
When Google announced the Pixel 10’s Pixelsnap accessory ecosystem, the one thing that drew my attention was the new Pixelsnap Charger with Stand ($69.99 at Amazon). I’ve always wanted a Pixel Stand but never made the plunge on the older models, thinking a better option would come. This new one, with its promised Qi2.2 25W compatibility with my Pixel 10 Pro XL, seemed perfect. So I took the plunge and bought it.
This mistake cost me $70, so let my story be a cautionary tale for you: You shouldn’t buy this charger for your Pixel 10 Pro XL. It’s a basic wireless charger that, yes, can go up to 25W wirelessly, but does so at the expense of terrible heat dissipation. And it doesn’t offer anything special that other Qi2 25W chargers can’t do — as a matter of fact, it does less.
A very Google-looking charger, but nothing else
Rita El Khoury / Android Authority
What struck me first about the Pixelsnap Charger with Stand is that it’s basically the $39.99 Pixelsnap Charger puck installed inside a stand, and shipped to you like that in a box for $69.99 total. You could basically 3D-print a mould for the charging pad, and you’d have the same result. What the extra $30 tax gets you is the Google aesthetic of a big white oval stand that looks clean on any desk or side table with no branding except for a big G on the bottom of the weighty base.
Well, unless you don’t like cable messes. There’s an integrated, non-removable 1-meter (~40 inches) USB-C cable for the puck, which means that I have to keep looping the cable and tying it together to avoid it hanging loose. I’d have preferred a removable option; that way, I could replace this with a shorter or longer USB-C cable if I need it.
Rita El Khoury / Android Authority
My biggest bugbear, though, is that the stand doesn’t bend. You either like Google’s mostly upright 65-degree angle or you don’t (in which case, you can take out the puck and lay it flat on any surface). At least you can prop up the phone in portrait or in landscape. For desk use, I’m finding this imposed angle mostly OK, but I did reach out multiple times to adjust it before my brain registered that it can’t be done. If you absolutely must get this charging stand, I recommend you start by testing what the angle looks like where you plan to use it before you commit.
You're paying a high price to get this clean white aesthetic, but beware that the stand doesn't bend or have a removable cable.
Also, obviously, this means the stand doesn’t fold flat for travel or for a cleaner look when not in use. I’d think about this a few times before buying it for a bedroom because even if you like the nightstand effect, you might still want to charge your phone flat some nights, and the Pixelsnap Charger with Stand doesn’t offer that option unless you take out the charging pad.
Paying the Google tax with no extra perks
Rita El Khoury / Android Authority
I would’ve been fine paying Google’s design tax if it meant getting something extra in return. But no, the Pixelsnap Charger with Stand doesn’t really offer anything extra. There’s no secondary wireless pad to charge my Pixel Buds (I can’t even charge them on it at this angle!), no built-in Pixel Watch 3 or 4 charger, and no USB-C port to plug in an extra charger for any of these. That’s a lost opportunity for Google; it could’ve easily made this a 2-in-1 or 3-in-1 for all the Pixel fans out there who have bought into its entire ecosystem.
No built-in fans, no charging optimizations, no Pixel-only features — there's literally no reason to pick this over any other Qi2 25W charger.
Worse, though, Google didn’t optimize anything about this charger: There are no built-in fans for active heat dissipation, and my Pixel 10 Pro XL treats it like any wireless charger, with none of the previous Pixel Stand’s charging modes (Optimized, Max, and Quiet) to choose from. Google is basically relying on the Qi2 standard to do its thing. On paper, that’s better than the proprietary handshake that the Pixel Stand required for faster charging on Pixel phones only; in reality, though, it means you’re getting nothing by picking Google’s Qi2 25W charger over any other Qi2 25W charger.
Rita El Khoury / Android Authority
Add to this that the Pixel 10 series’ new screen savers work with any charger, wireless or not, and there’s literally no reason to go with Google’s Pixelsnap unless you really want the white Google look.
And just in case you thought I was being harsh for no reason, let me tell you about the actual charging part of this charger.
Pixelsnap heats up, charges slowly
Rita El Khoury / Android Authority
At first, I noticed that my Pixel 10 Pro XL tended to get too hot while using the Pixelsnap Charger, with or without the stand. It takes about 20 minutes for the phone to reach a warm 39°C and remain there throughout the two-plus hours that it takes to fill up the phone completely. I tested this with and without a case on my phone to see if removing plastic barriers reduces the generated heat. My colleague Robert Triggs also repeated this charging test multiple times, and the best he ever got was an average of 36-37°C and a charge time of 135 minutes.
Rita El Khoury / Android Authority
What’s more incriminating, though, is that the Pixel 10 Pro XL only hit the max watt draw for about five minutes, reaching 30W — power measured from the wall charger, which translates to around 25W delivered to the phone. But the moment the phone’s internal temperature rose (and the Pixelsnap Charger’s temperature along with it), charging dropped to around 12W or so, basically equalling a typical Qi2 charger’s (not Qi2.2) power draw. The lack of heat dissipation in such a thick stand is a mystery to me.
The lack of heat dissipation is a mystery. The phone gets hot and drops to basic Qi2 speeds, skipping the benefits of Qi2 25W.
Compared to the Google Pixel 10, which only supports Qi2 at 15W, there’s nearly no benefit to the Pro XL’s Qi2.2 25W when using the Pixelsnap Charger. Both phones take more than two hours to fill up, and both of them average around 10-12W. And when compared against USB-C charging, that’s one hour more on the charger at an average of 3°C more.
Now, normally, I’d be fine with my phone heating up a bit when charging wirelessly or charging slower, even, especially if I’m keeping it on a pad overnight and enjoying the perk of a wireless plug/unplug in the dark. But the entire point of Qi2 25W is that I should be able to get a relatively fast charge without plugging in, so if my Qi2 25W charger can’t dissipate heat and drops to basic Qi2 15W speeds, then what’s the point of buying one?
Oh, and if you plan on using Google’s new Pixel Flex 67W dual-charger with the Pixelsnap Charger (with or without Stand), beware that we noticed some odd and frequent shut-offs during the charging cycle. We repeated the test a few times with the same results.
Don’t buy the Pixelsnap Charger (with or without Stand)
Rita El Khoury / Android Authority
I wanted to love this Pixelsnap Charger with Stand as much as people love the second-gen Pixel Stand, but I think this is a swing-and-a-miss from Google. The stand looks nice, is well-made, and hefty, but it’s just a plastic enclosure around a charging puck. It’s expensive, doesn’t offer any exclusive features for your Pixel phone, and heats up to a point that it performs just as well as any basic 15W Qi2 charger out there.
So, in summary, the Pixelsnap Charger with Stand isn’t the right charger for you if: You need more than 1 meter of cable,
You’d like to adjust the angle of your stand and switch seamlessly between an upright position and a laid-down position,
You’d like an extra USB-C port, another charging pad for your wireless buds, or some form of Pixel Watch 3 or 4 compatibility. There are many existing Qi2 chargers out there that will do these tricks for you, and more Qi2 25W options are also on the way.
Still, if you’re the perfect target for the Pixelsnap Charger with Stand — i.e., you only need a wireless charger for your Pixel 10 Pro XL and you’re OK with the upright position — you should wait a bit before buying it. Thanks to the iPhone 17 series adding Qi2 25W support, many Qi2 25W chargers are coming on the market from Ugreen, Baseus, Anker, Belkin, and other well-known accessory companies. Almost all of them brag about built-in fans and heat dissipation, so it’s worth seeing if they manage to keep the Pixel 10 Pro XL cooler and charging at faster speeds, which is what you want if you’re splurging on a Qi2 25W charger. You won’t lose any special features either, since the screen saver functionality works with any charger.
I’m currently testing the UGREEN Magflow 2-in-1 charger ($45 on Amazon), which has a main Qi2 25W pad for my Pixel 10 Pro XL, an extra 5W pad for my Buds, and one 5W USB-C port for my Pixel Watch 3, all while being more portable and with an adjustable angle. So far, I haven’t noticed as much heating as with my Pixelsnap Charger, but I haven’t done any extensive tests yet. At least it offers more flexibility than Pixelsnap, though, and at a lower price. I’d save my money and see what else is out there.
Google Pixelsnap Charger with Stand Clean Google design • Good build quality • Hefty base MSRP: $69.99 Minimalist design wireless charging stand The Google Pixelsnap Phone Charger with Stand is a simple and elegant stand that snaps to your new Pixel 10 series smartphone. it produces up to 25W of wireless Qi2 charging. See price at Amazon Positives Clean Google design
Clean Google design Good build quality
Good build quality Hefty base Cons Non-removable 1m USB-C cable
Non-removable 1m USB-C cable No angle adjustment or foldable design
No angle adjustment or foldable design No heat dissipation
No heat dissipation Phone overheats and drops to basic Qi2 15W speeds
Phone overheats and drops to basic Qi2 15W speeds No special Pixel-only features
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