Samsung Galaxy S25’s Qi2 Prepared Case Is a Small Step Towards Magnetic Accent Bliss

We have now been ready and ready for extra Android telephones to help the complete Qi2 wi-fi charging customary, together with telephones with built-in magnets. And with the Galaxy S25 cellphone line, Samsung is making a small step towards this by providing official circumstances that embody magnets, however not incorporating magnets inside the cellphone itself.

On one hand, this might nonetheless be an enormous growth for the Qi2 accent market, now that one of many largest Android cellphone producers on the earth is providing official help for lots of the magnetic chargers, wallets and digicam mounts which can be already bought for MagSafe-compatible iPhones. However then again, Samsung is not actually providing something “new” as a result of third-party accent makers have been making Galaxy cellphone circumstances with built-in magnets for years, providing unofficial compatibility with those self same equipment.

Even older Samsung telephones have supported the 15W wi-fi charging pace that Qi2 guarantees (what Samsung has lengthy known as “Quick Wi-fi Charging 2.0”).

This reveal of help through a cellphone case comes two weeks after CES 2025, the place Samsung and Google each dedicated to rising Qi2 with their gadgets this yr in joint statements with the Wi-fi Energy Consortium. So though cellphone circumstances are getting used so as to add the magnets, Samsung and Google may ultimately embody the help contained in the {hardware} of different gadgets set for launch this yr or — at a minimal — proceed this cellphone case technique.

OnePlus has deployed an identical strategy with its newest OnePlus 13 cellphone. The system itself helps wi-fi charging however lacks the magnets, although the corporate sells circumstances with a magnet ring built-in to make the most of Qi2 and different comparable equipment. 

That mentioned, I am bummed that two years after Qi2’s preliminary reveal in January 2023, we solely have the HMD Skyline as the only Android cellphone to this point to incorporate inner magnets corresponding to these Apple’s included since 2020’s iPhone 12. It limits the expansion of helpful add-ons like wallets, chargers and even tripod holders since you possibly can’t use them from the second you purchase a brand new cellphone with out additionally shopping for a magnetic case.

But it surely’s not all unhealthy information. Even when somebody needs to make use of magnetic equipment with their Android cellphone and has to purchase a particular case, there’s now a wealth of Qi2 magnetic equipment in the marketplace which can be dropping in value as the usual has opened up. Whereas a MagSafe licensed two-in-one wi-fi charger from Belkin that is bought by Apple can nonetheless value as a lot as $100, there are actually so many Qi2 equipment that do the identical factor. Sticking inside Belkin, an identical two-in-one charger that helps Qi2 for 15W wi-fi charging and magnets is obtainable for a way more reasonably priced $70. You can too discover even cheaper Qi2 equipment from many different manufacturers with a easy search.

So the Qi2 equipment — that may work equally nicely throughout Android and iOS — are definitely out there. Now it is only a continued wait to see if first-party help will stick with needing a particular cellphone case, or if Samsung or Google will ultimately put out a cellphone that features these magnets inside the system itself.