Apple’s “MagSafe” wireless charging for the iPhone could come to more devices, as the sequel to Qi wireless charging is made real.
Wireless charging may not be in every phone, but it is in quite a few, and there’s a good reason why: it has been around for a while.
While you mightn’t use wireless charging all the time, the Qi wireless charging standard is nearly 15 years old, but used for closer to ten. It’s why wireless charging is in so many devices, most of which are phones, but it can even be found in a Kindle.
Over time, wireless charging has improved, mostly due to its speed, but a few years ago, Apple changed it to incorporate a magnetic ring, making the wireless charging pad fit a phone directly and provide the best amount of current for a faster charge overall.
MagSafe, as its known, is an Apple-only technology and works across the iPhone 12 range, iPhone 13 range, and iPhone 14 range, but the idea behind it could end up working for more than just the iPhone, and more than just the neat hack Mophie found with its similar accessory.
At CES this year, the Wireless Power Consortium (WPC) behind the original Qi has announced what’s next, with Qi2, a high-speed wireless charging technology with that will have a “Magnetic Power Profile” concept built on MagSafe. In fact, the WPC has said as much, noting in its release that Apple “provided the basis for the new Qi2 standard building on its MagSafe technology”.
It means that the next version of MagSafe and Qi wireless charging used on both the next iPhone and Android devices could be one and the same, though we might not see that until much later this year. While new Android devices are expected from February, the Wireless Power Consortium expects Qi2 certified phones and chargers aren’t expected until much later in the year, closer to the 2023 holiday season, which would mean phones at the end.
That shouldn’t stop you from getting a new phone this year, though; there’s a pretty strong chance Qi2 will be compatible with whatever Apple is working on for its next version of MagSafe in the iPhone 15, and possibly for other manufacturers, too, given Apple, Google, HMD, Lenovo, and Samsung are all members of the Wireless Power Consortium.
