The Wireless Power Consortium and Apple are working on a next-generation “Qi2” wireless charging standard based on MagSafe, set to arrive by the end of 2023
why it matters Laurent Giret / Thurrott : New Qi2 Standard to Bring MagSafe-like Charging to Android Sean Hollister / The Verge : Qi2: How Apple might finally harness MagSafe by giving it away Matthew Humphries / PCMag : Android Phones to Get MagSafe-Like Qi2 Wireless Charging This Year Liam Tung / ZDNet : iPhone MagSafe-style wireless charging could soon be everywhere. Including your Android phone Ivan Mehta / TechCrunch : Wireless Power Consortium is working with Apple to bring MagSafe-like capabilities to Android Steve Dent / Engadget : Future Android phones will feature MagSafe-like wireless fast charging Pradeep Viswanathan / BigTechWire : Qi2 wireless charging standard will be based on Apple's MagSafe technology Rida Imran / iThinkDifferent : New Qi2 standard for wireless chargers is built on Apple's MagSafe tech Kajoli Anand Puri / Digit : New Qi2 wireless charging standard will bring MagSafe-like technology to Android phones Oliver Haslam / iMore : Apple's MagSafe iPhone charging is coming to Android — here's how Asif Iqbal Shaik / SamMobile : Apple's MagSafe wireless charging could soon come to Samsung phones via Qi2 standard Derek Kessler / CrackBerry : Apple's MagSafe wireless charging will soon be everybody's Qi2 Rich Brome / Phone Scoop : New Qi2 Wireless Charging Standard Builds on Apple's MagSafe Tweets: Max Weinbach / @maxwinebach : So case manufacturers, you guys gonna add MagSafe magnets to Android cases now orrrrrr https://www.businesswire.com/ ...
Context & Ripple Effects
Apple’s 2017 entry into the Wireless Power Consortium tied its charging strategy to the established Qi body; the Qi2 collaboration turns MagSafe’s magnetic alignment into a shared specification rather than an Apple-only accessory feature.
The standard moved rapidly from proposal to implementation: more than 100 Qi v2.0 devices entered or awaited certification by late 2023, while CES coverage identified Qi2 as a leading example of cross-ecosystem interoperability.
First-order effects
- Apple and the Wireless Power Consortium give Android device and accessory makers a defined route to magnetic, MagSafe-like charging compatibility.
- Qi2 accessory vendors can target a common certified charging standard rather than designing around a single handset ecosystem.
Second-order effects
- Android manufacturers gain pressure to support Qi2 as certified products arrive, reducing the distinction between Apple’s magnetic charging experience and competing phones.
- Charging-accessory competition shifts toward certified hardware, design, and bundled use cases as the connector behavior becomes shared infrastructure.
Third-order effects
- If adoption broadens, magnetic wireless charging becomes an ecosystem-level interoperability layer, with standards certification carrying more influence than proprietary accessory lock-in.
- The later 25W Qi2 rollout with major Android adoption indicates that the standard’s relevance is expanding from compatibility to performance competition.
The trend: Consumer-device ecosystems are standardizing formerly proprietary convenience features to enlarge the compatible accessory market across platforms.