Qi2 Wireless Charging is Ready and the Pixel 9 Could Have It

The Wireless Power Consortium (WPC) announced today that the next version of Qi wireless charging is essentially ready for you and I. While limited to start (there’s one phone line from Apple), this is the start of the future of wireless charging, known as Qi2, that will soon come to an Android phone near you.

The WPC said that Qi2 or Qi v2.0 certified products have finished testing and certification and will show up for the holiday shopping season. What they mean is the iPhone 15 line-up has received certification for Qi2 and that accessories from Belkin, Mophie, Anker, and Aircharge are on the way. No Android phone is yet certified for Qi2 and we assume it won’t happen until next year, since no mention of any Android OEM was made in today’s announcement.

Once Qi2 does show up in the world of Android, it will come in two flavors or profiles. When branded as Qi2 it’ll come as the Magnetic Power Profile (MPP), which is based on Apple’s MagSafe technology. This MPP means magnetically attaching to chargers in the way Apple phones have for a number of years, with more efficient, faster, and smoother charging experiences.

The other profile is known as Extended Power Profile (EPP) and it will still be branded as jus Qi. It won’t have the magnets, but it still should provide a more consistent wireless charging experience.

Now, I mentioned the Pixel 9 in the title and that’s because a Google senior hardware engineer named Liyu Yang was recently appointed to the WPC board. Liyu is apparently the master of wireless charging systems on Pixel phones and is “currently leading the investigation and design of next-generation wireless charging platforms for future Pixel products.” So why wouldn’t Google be now working on adding Qi2 to its next phones, since that’s the next-generation wireless charging solution. And we say next phones because there is no indication that the Pixel 8 and Pixel 8 Pro are compatible with the Qi2 standard.

// Wireless Power Consortium (PDF) | The Verge