Pixel 9 could support Apple's MagSafe-like wireless charging with Qi2 certification

The Wireless Power Consortium (WPC) has announced that the Qi2 wireless charging standard has completed certification testing and is ready to be implemented in products. The first devices with Qi2-certified devices will be available in time for the holiday season, including accessories for Apple’s iPhone 15 lineup. It also looks like the upcoming Google Pixel 9 series might come bearing Qi2 compatibility next year.

As observed by The Verge, one of the board of directors at WPC is Liyu Yang, a wireless charging expert and a senior hardware engineer at Google. The executive has worked on Pixel hardware since 2017, and as per a WPC blog post, Yang is “currently leading the investigation and design of next-generation wireless charging platforms for future Pixel products.”

The words “next generation wireless charging” and “future Pixel products” strongly hint that Qi2 charging could be headed to the Pixel 9 series. With Yang as a board member at WPC, it would be highly strange if the latest wireless charging tech didn’t make it to Google’s upcoming phones.

The key upgrade in Qi2 is its Magnetic Power Profile (MPP). The technology is essentially the same as Apple’s MagSafe. In fact, it was contributed by the Cupertino company to WPC. It still provides 15W charging, but it ensures more efficient power transfer since its magnets align the transmitter and receiver coils almost perfectly.

There’s another Qi2 profile called the Extended Power Profile (EPP). Magnets will be the only difference between MPP and EPP. Devices that support Qi2 but don’t have magnets will not be branded with the new Qi2 logo.