Are you enthusiastic about MagSafe wi-fi charging coming to Android?

I’ve spent the final a number of days recuperating and recovering from CES. It is arduous to flee out of there with out some form of sickness — I really feel fairly fortunate that I simply caught a easy chilly — and that is earlier than you issue within the sheer exhaustion of the occasion. Regardless of how draining a few of my days in Vegas have been, I left feeling far more excited in regards to the world of expertise than I did getting into. I would anticipated to listen to nothing however information about AI and AI-related gizmos throughout CES this 12 months, and whereas that definitely did occur, I discovered myself happy with simply what number of devices I discovered on the present ground.

Critically. In comparison with CES 2024, Taylor Kerns and myself discovered placing collectively AP’s record of award recipients like a park within the stroll. Positive, gaming handheld docks and tiny, transportable earbuds won’t sound just like the type of game-changing innovation CES as soon as supplied, however these have been actual merchandise with easy-to-understand targets. From retaining your e-book assortment simple on the eyes with TCL’s NXTPAPER cellphone to Lenovo’s small, flagship-worthy gaming pill, there was a lot to be enthusiastic about.

Probably the most promising bulletins in the course of the present wasn’t about {hardware} in any respect — or, no less than, not about present {hardware}. On the eve of the Galaxy S25 announcement, each Samsung and Google confirmed their respective help for Qi2, the most recent wi-fi charging customary from the Wi-fi Energy Consortium. It is a large step up from each corporations’ 2024 output, the place the opportunity of MagSafe help was left as much as third-party accent makers like Peak Design.

After all, equipment may nonetheless be concerned. Whereas it is arduous to talk to Google’s potential help with the Pixel 10, Samsung’s Galaxy S25 lineup is rumored to help Qi2 and MagSafe equipment via first-party circumstances, not via magnets constructed into the precise telephones themselves. This is able to comply with the lead of OnePlus, which constructed a MagSafe-friendly 50W wi-fi charger for its newest flagship, however opted to go away the magnets to an non-compulsory shell.

To a sure extent, this strategy is sensible. The majority of smartphone customers hold circumstances on their gadgets always, so reasonably than waste priceless inside house on one thing a small share of consumers would admire, you retain this characteristic unique to non-compulsory equipment. After all, that strategy virtually ensures solely a small group of individuals will really profit from MagSafe help on the OnePlus 13 — and the S25 sequence, ought to it comply with go well with.

Personally, until corporations like OnePlus and Samsung are keen to bundle Qi2-ready circumstances within the field with their smartphones — and we all know that is not going to occur — I would wish to see each Android OEM undertake the Apple strategy right here. Construct magnets into the cellphone’s chassis and your first-party circumstances; that means, all people wins. I am hoping that is the strategy Google takes with the Pixel 10, no less than, although it’ll take some time earlier than we all know what to anticipate with that cellphone.

So, with Qi2 help increasing in some means for future Android telephones, I’ve to ask: Are you enthusiastic about the way forward for MagSafe? I’ve lengthy been a fan of magnetic wi-fi charging — together with the entire numerous equipment that include this instrument — and after seeing a great deal of MagSafe-based merchandise on the showfloor at CES, I’ve to say I am that far more prepared for brand spanking new {hardware}. After all, I am only one individual, so if you happen to aren’t excited by Qi2 lastly arriving on Android telephones, be at liberty to hold forth within the feedback beneath.