As a MagSafe fan, I can't wait for Qi2 to come to Android

Qi2 wireless charging is taking its sweet time to officially show up on phones and accessories. The faster, magnet-guided, wireless charging standard was announced early in 2023, with promised availability around October. We’re nearly in December without a single Qi2-compatible phone in sight, unless you count the iPhone 15 series (which supposedly has it, because Qi2 is unofficially backward-compatible with MagSafe).

On the Android side, the Pixel 8 series missed on Qi2 by a hair and Google fans would, supposedly, have to wait until the Pixel 9 series in October 2024 to get it. Rumors about more imminent flagships like the OnePlus 12 and Galaxy S24 haven’t mentioned Qi2 yet. Personally, I think the info would already be out in the wild if these phones had Qi2’s big metallic array, which makes me doubt it’s there.

So where is Qi2 really? All we’ve seen so far are a couple of chargers from Belkin and Anker at IFA 2023 that have yet to launch too.

Meanwhile, I’m sitting here with a bunch of MagSafe-compatible chargers and accessories and I can’t use them with my Android phones unless I install a MagSafe adapter of some sort.

I’ve tried everything from metallic rings to MagSafe-compatible cases, but neither of these are ideal solutions. The rings stick out too much, get caught on pant pockets, and get unglued quite easily. On the other hand, MagSafe-compatible cases for Android are either too cheap (think no-name brands on Amazon and AliExpress) or too expensive (like $50 Moment cases or $70 Mous cases), and come in two color options at best: transparent and black. Neither is my favorite. Besides, I’m tired of looking for special accessories to make MagSafe work with my phone.

I just want Android phones with built-in Qi2, and the sooner the better. I want faster 15W charging as a default in my wireless chargers and phones, without having to think about compatibility and different standards. I want built-in metallic arrays to become the norm for Spigen, Caseology, Ringke, and other popular case brands so that I don’t go dig in the abyss of AliExpress to find a nicely colored MagSafe-compatible case for my Pixel 8 Pro.

I also want to pop a PopSocket on my Pixel Fold without putting it in a case or adding an ugly ring to its back. And most of all, I want all the benefits of the MagSafe accessory ecosystem for Android. Snap, unsnap; I love the simplicity and practicality of magnets as an attachment mechanism. But none of this will happen until Qi2 starts showing up in phones and real products. Until then, I (im)patiently wait.