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Ask Jerry is a column where we answer your burning Android/tech questions with the help of long-time Android Central editor Jerry Hildenbrand.
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Does the Samsung Galaxy S25 support Qi2 wireless charging or not?
(Image Credit: Saud Fatmi / Android Central intentions)
A BUNCH of people have asked:
Does the Samsung Galaxy S25 support the WPC’s Qi 2 specifications? Can I use MagSafe stuff with it?
Alternatively:
Why doesn’t the Galaxy S25 support Qi 2 without buying a special case from Samsung?
It seems like everyone wanted the Samsung Galaxy S25 to support Qi 2 with MagSafe so they can stick their new phone to things and charge it or do whatever else someone can come up with using magnets. I’ve got good news, and I have bad news.
First, I want to say that while Samsung makes some great products, the company can be terrible regarding messaging. My dad would say they could wreck a box of ball bearings.
That could be intentional, maybe to keep an air of mystery surrounding new products, or because we like to pretend leaked information will always be true.
In any case, the Galaxy S25 does support the Qi 2.1.0 (they insist the zero be added and is important) specifications, as listed by the Wireless Power Consortium, which includes:
1. Fast charging: transmitters and receivers can handle up to 15 watts of power.
2. Qi transmitters can be operated using USB power.
3. Better foreign object detection.
4. Choice of a single coil, coil array, or moving coil transmitter.
5. Technical bits and pieces from previous versions.
Notice what’s missing from these specs? Anything having to do with magnets. That’s because when the Qi2 standard was restructured for version 2.0, the Magnetic Power Profile (what you might think of as MagSafe) was separated and is now its own standard.
(Image credit: Nicholas Sutrich / Android Central)
You can use the S25 with any Qi 2.1.0 or older charger, and it will charge. It just won’t stick to anything because it’s not magnetic.
If you want support for the MPP you will have to buy a case that has the magnets in the right(ish) spot.
Yay, technology!
Why is it like this? Couldn’t Samsung have just slapped the magnets inside the S25 and called it a day? This is just a scam to sell pricey Samsung cases, right?
Probably not. I’m sure Samsung is very happy to sell you phone accessories like cases, but I think this time there is more to it all. This was the easy way to try and give everyone what they wanted without reinventing the “guts” of the current Galaxy S series.
Qi2 with the MPP is a mostly open standard (meaning any company can license it and use it to build stuff), but it is based on something Apple first started doing. It’s great that Apple gave something like this away, and I’m not complaining, but it means the phone was designed first, and the magnetic latching system was built around it.
Engineers at Apple put magnets and a receiver coil inside the iPhone where they would fit in the correct configuration and not interfere with any other components. Everything works great because it was all designed to work together.
(Image credit: Andrew Myrick / Android Central)
When Qi2 first came out, I predicted it was destined to fail because the magnet arrangement and power transmission were both part of the spec. It meant that if you wanted to use the Qi2 spec inside your next phone, you had to put the right magnets in the right places.
This was done so chargers would be universal; you could walk into Best Buy and buy a Qi2 charger and it would work on any phone. But it meant that most phone makers had to rework their phones so things would fit where they were required to fit. So, aside from the HMD Skyline, we never saw any flagship phones using Qi2 because no company wanted to go back to the drawing board for a phone that’s been in development for several years.
Some companies will never adopt Qi2 because they have their own proprietary version of fast wireless charging. They might add magnets to it, but you won’t be able to use their charger on any other brand of phone and get fast charging speeds. It might not work at all. A standard prevents this from happening, and they are generally a good thing.
When Qi2 was reworked, and the magnetic part became its own standard, it meant that companies would and could adopt better, safer charging specifications. That’s a great thing — the changes you don’t care about can make a big difference when it comes to efficiency and safety.
Did Samsung do all this on purpose to get you to buy a case? We reached out to Samsung for an official statement and asked if they could share why they chose not to include the MPP on the Galaxy S25. If and when they answer, we’ll update this article and publish the statement in its entirety.
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