Samsung has to redesign Galaxy phones for the sake of Qi2

Samsung appears to be adopting Qi2 magnets in the Galaxy S26 series, but there’s a key problem with that, and it’s going to require Samsung to eventually redesign its Galaxy phones to fully embrace the standard.

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Recent leaks make it abundantly clear that Samsung will adopt Qi2 magnets in the Galaxy S26 series. This comes after the Galaxy S25 series and the company’s latest foldables effectively ignored the standard, instead being “Qi2 Ready” which is another way of saying the magnets aren’t built in, but can be offloaded to cases instead.

It’s a lazy way of implementing the feature, and also not really anything new. Besides guaranteeing that the magnet ring lines up with the actual charging coil, it’s not very different from just buying a magnetic case like you’ve been able to do for virtually every Android device over the past few years. The advantage of proper Qi2 support is that it works whether you have a case on or not, and also means that almost every accessory will have those magnets, rather than just the ones that choose to support it.

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Regardless of how you feel about the magnets being built-in or not, though, everyone can appreciate the appeal of magnetic accessories. From chargers to battery banks to mounts, it’s all very useful.

On Samsung Galaxy phones, though, Qi2 and MagSafe accessories can be an absolute pain.

That’s due to the design of the phone more than anything. Samsung’s corner placement and vertical arrangement for the camera lenses means that there’s not much room between the cameras and the Qi charging ring. That doesn’t matter for most wireless chargers, but it’s a huge headache for accessories. In many cases, the accessory can’t fully latch on or needs to be placed at an angle because the camera gets in the way. Or, in other cases, one of the cameras is partially covered.

Samsung knows this, too, as the company sells its own magnetic wallet with a special design that lowers the bulk of the wallet underneath the charging ring.

That’s not always an option, though. For example, I’ve been trying to find a decent Qi2 battery bank for my Galaxy Z Fold 7, but options are slim at best. One Reddit user tested out a lot of battery banks, and didn’t find many that could work with the Fold’s design without the camera module getting in the way.

Ultimately, the only way to fix this problem is for Samsung to reinvent its design language. You can’t shift the charging coil down any further without running into worse problems with chargers and accessories, so the only real answer is to redesign the camera layout.

While the Galaxy S26 series does seem to be diving deeper into Qi2 magnets, no such redesign is coming.

Leaked Galaxy S26 images show that the “Pro” and Ultra will look the same as their predecessors. Only the Galaxy S26 Edge will adopt a different look, with an iPhone-like design coming. And, really, it’s Apple that’s only going further into this design. The sectioned out design of the newly-unveiled iPhone 17 series is perfect for Qi2 and MagSafe accessories. Quite literally, it couldn’t be more perfect. The same applies to the Google Pixel series that pioneered the camera bar design. It’s just perfect for magnetic accessories.

Samsung can put as many magnets into its upcoming phones as it wants, but ultimately, it’s the design of Galaxy phones that needs to change for customers to feel the benefits.

What would you want Samsung to change? Personally, I’d be all for a camera bar-esque look, but I’d rather see Samsung come up with its own ideas for a change. I just hope that not everything ends up looking like the Galaxy S26 Edge because… oof.

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