TECHWEEK
With the blessing of its competitors, Apple is poised to improve the Qi wireless charging standard in the near future . We’re talking about the new version, aptly named Qi2, which iterates on the foundations of MagSafe, including many of its aspects, such as magnets and authenticity checking. Interestingly, Qi2 will extend compatibility considerably, and even means MagSafe is coming to Android.
According to statements by a spokesperson for the consortium, both Apple and Samsung are expected to release products compatible with the Qi2 standard in early 2024 . In fact, those compatible devices could be announced as early as the end of this year.
Qi2 wireless charging
Going into technical details, Qi2 seeks to correct one of the most annoying problems of the current Qi charging standard : when a device is misplaced and is not charging. Apparently, Apple’s MagSafe technology will be implemented to improve the grip of the terminal through a system of magnets. Such magnets would help with the alignment of the emitter and receiver coils, ensuring consistent power transfer.
As expected, this technology is still in development, but one of the clear objectives is to improve charging speed and energy efficiency. Let’s remember that the current Qi standard has a cap of 15W, which is not much compared to other alternatives, so there is plenty of room for improvement in this section.
As if that were not enough, everything seems to indicate that Qi2 chargers will work just as well with either iPhones or Android phones.
“The launch of the Qi2 standard will further expand the wireless charging market by opening the market to new accessories that cannot be charged with current flat-to-flat devices.” – Reads a press release from the Wireless Power Consortium.
As mentioned in the quote above, it is intended to allow other devices to be charged, such as smart watches and tablets. However, at first it will only work for the basics: telephones and headphones, so we will have to wait a bit until its support is extended through updates.
Again, this is a still-in-development technology , so don’t expect to see it anytime soon; maybe in 2024 , if all goes well.
