The Wireless Power Consortium has today announced the next evolution of Qi charging with “Qi2 25W,” a faster charging option that will soon include some “major Android smartphones.”
As of today, the Qi 2.2.1 spec has been announced, with the update introducing “Qi2 25W.” The new deviation from Qi2 – which itself was introduced about two years ago – does just what the name implies, boosting the charging speed from the existing 15W cap up to 25W.
The WPC explains:
Faster wireless charging is the number one consumer-requested feature to improve wireless charging satisfaction, according to WPC market research. Qi2 was a big step in addressing consumer interest in faster charging when it was launched in November 2023 with 15 watts of charging power.
The announcement goes on to note that “several smartphone manufacturers” had their own fast wireless charging protocols, but that this standard introduces a way for any brand to benefit from these higher speeds. Ahead of today’s launch, the WPC had confirmed that Google was helping to boost Qi2 charging speeds.
That brings us to perhaps the most exciting part of today’s announcement, where the WPC says that “major Android smartphones” are set to support Qi2 25W. No timeline is mentioned, but this support is “in addition to Apple iPhone.” Since these faster speeds require support for the Qi 2.21 spec – Samsung’s devices are on Qi 2.1.0 – it stands to reason that we’re referring to new devices, and there’s an obvious candidate.
As mentioned, Google was involved in making these faster charging speeds happen in the first place, and we’ve already heard that the company is working on “Pixelsnap” as an accessory upgrade for Pixel 10 involving magnetic accessories. Everything is lined up for Google to introduce support, though it’s still unclear if magnets will be built into the phones themselves.
While the exact devices set to support Qi2 25W have yet to be disclosed, the WPC says that “several hundred devices” are in line to be tested.
In addition to Apple iPhone, major Android smartphones will join the Qi2 ecosystem for the first time with this launch. Fourteen devices, receivers, and transmitters completed Qi2 25W certification testing in a limited launch last week. Full-scale certification testing is now open to several hundred devices waiting in the queue to be tested.
As for Google’s Pixel 10 series, the official unveiling is set to August 20, and now there’s a whole new reason to be excited.
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