Dhruv Bhutani / Android Authority
I am an Android and a Pixel fan who has been heralding MagSafe as the coolest and most useful smartphone accessory improvement since sliced bread — or USB-C to stay within the metaphor. So when Qi2 was announced with a hint of MagSafe backwards compatibility, I was in nerd heaven. Finally — finally! — I’d be able to dip into a large ecosystem of accessories and use them on my Pixel phones.
But Qi2’s announcement came and went, and the weeks, months, and years passed us by without any Android phone adding support for the standard. Then came the HMD Skyline, the first phone with built-in Qi2 charging and magnet compatibility, which made little impact besides claiming the title of “first to market.” Google released its Pixel 9 series with good ol’ first-gen Qi, letting 2024 roll into 2025 with me still twiddling my thumbs waiting for Qi2’s big “Finally!” moment.
Early 2025 didn’t change much. I thought the Samsung Galaxy S25 series would take us over the hump and herald the age of Qi2, and while the phones are Qi2-ready, they don’t have the built-in magnet compatibility that I really want. Instead, you have to buy a magnetic case, which solves the issue without really solving it (I’ll get to the “why” later). Similarly, the OnePlus 13 uses a magnetic case to trigger its proprietary AIRVOOC wireless charging ecosystem, and the OPPO Find X8 series followed with the same strategy.
It’s easy to lose hope in this context. I was starting to think that 2025 is done for, and that I’d have to wait for 2026 to see Qi2’s big moment on Android come to fruition. But lo and behold, Google, the brand less likely to innovate on hardware specs, is potentially preparing an unexpected surprise: Qi2 on the Pixel 10. And if that turns out to be true, you’ll find me doing the Shia LaBeouf clapping meme in real life for a few minutes. Here’s why.
Google adopting Qi2 puts pressure on everyone to adopt Qi2
Rita El Khoury / Android Authority
Android brands have been fighting over small margins on spec sheets for years now, and no one wants to be left behind. If OnePlus upgrades to the latest processor, Samsung will follow, and if Xiaomi speeds up its charging, OPPO will go faster. It took ages to get the first under-display fingerprint scanner, but now almost all Android phones have them; the same happened with higher adaptive refresh rates on displays, periscope cameras, and so on. It only takes one small snowball to create an avalanche, but waiting for the snowball is the hardest part.
We’re now seeing this shift with silicon-carbon batteries, and I hope that we’ll soon see it for Qi2. If Google, the face of Android and the brand with some of the most significant PR exposure (especially in the US market), really added full Qi2 compatibility and created an ecosystem of magnet-friendly “Pixelsnap” accessories, then it will definitely spearhead the online conversation around Qi2, magnets, and “MagSafe on Android.” Reviews, YouTube videos, podcasts, ads — everything will mention Pixelsnap, and the onus will be on everyone else to follow.
That should pressure every other brand to include Qi2 in their upcoming flagship, even speeding up their plans if Qi2 wasn’t part of them already. What was once a “nice to have” feature in the spec sheet would become a real bullet point under the cons if it’s missing. And no brand wants extra cons and reasons for people not to buy its phones.
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