What is Qi2? Universal wireless charging, with magnets, is almost here

Qi has been synonymous with wireless charging for years now. Qi chargers are built into furniture or installed in public spaces, or you might have bought one for your desk or bedside table, to make charging as simple as putting your smartphone down.

However, it hasn’t always been a pain-free experience. Lining up your phone just right can be tedious, charging can be slow, depending on your setup, and it doesn’t work the same on every device. Last year, Qi2 was introduced to fix some of these issues, and we’re now starting to see the first commercially available Qi2 devices.

Qi2 chargers, like this one from Anker, provide wireless power and magnetic positioning.

What is Qi2?

Qi2 is a new open standard from the wireless power consortium (WPC), which has more than 600 members, including Apple, Samsung, Google and many accessory makers. In effect, Qi2 borrows the design of Apple’s MagSafe, which combines wireless charging with automatically aligning magnets, but makes it available to everyone, opening the door for Android, new kinds of devices and accessories to use magnetic wireless charging.

Currently, the only certified Qi2 devices are Apple’s latest iPhones, since they already have the magnetic tech. But supported Android devices are expected as early as this year, meaning you’ll be able to get a wireless charger that magnetically attaches to both iPhones and Android devices. Phone-makers also have the option to support Qi2 without the magnets, or include the magnetic tech in optional phone cases.

Apple’s MagSafe formed the basis of Qi2, which will be compatible with iPhones and Androids.

Does Qi2 charge faster than Qi?

This gets a little bit technical, so bear with me. The original Qi standard charged devices wirelessly with 5W of power, which is much slower than most current wired charging.

Eventually, the WPC introduced something called Extended Power Profile (EPP) which could charge supported devices at up to 15W, and the old standard was renamed Baseline Power Profile (BPP). Some EPP chargers only support charging at 12W.

Qi2 still works on EPP, but introduces a new profile called Magnetic Power Profile (MPP). Supported devices can attach to a magnetic charger and will get up to 15W of power. That might sound the same, but in practice using magnets for alignment is a lot more efficient. When you place a device manually on a charging pad, you’ll get a slower charge (and more heat) if the coils don’t line up exactly. With magnetic Qi2, it always lines up.

The $150 Belkin 2-in-1 charges a Qi2 device plus another Qi device, and has a USB-C port to charge one wired device as well.

What’s it like to use Qi2 now?

I’ve been testing a Qi2 compatible charger from Belkin, which has a magnetic pad that supports 15W, as well as a smaller pad supporting 5W, and a USB-C plug to charge a third device with a cable, also at 5W.

The idea is that your MagSafe iPhone or future Qi2 device can go in the main spot, while the others will charge a wireless compatible set of earbuds and a smartwatch. It comes with a 30W power supply to make sure there is enough juice to go around.

Using my iPhone 15, it’s exactly like MagSafe; the phone snaps on easily and always makes a solid connection. Android devices are trickier because performance isn’t guaranteed without Qi2 certification. Even if your phone can charge at 23W or 30W on its own proprietary charger, it will be limited by its Qi specification on a Qi2 charger. Luckily, Qi2 is backwards compatible with Qi, so Android devices supporting EPP should still charge decently fast.

What’s coming next?

The WPC has indicated it intends to expand the existing power protocols to allow for faster charging on compatible Qi2 devices, so ideally, in the near future, you’ll be able to buy a single Qi2 charger and it will charge any iPhone or Android device at its top speed.

If you buy a phone that supports Qi2 but not the magnetic profile, you should be able to buy a case that adds magnetic compatibility, as you can today to allow Android devices to charge on (some) MagSafe chargers.

But like MagSafe, Qi2 should also allow for new kinds of accessories on phones and other devices. An easy one to imagine is a battery pack that you can charge and attach magnetically to your phone, to help its battery last longer. You could even add Qi2 compatibility to a mixed-reality headset to make it easier to charge, or power the device without having to blindly plug cables in and out.

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