Samsung says its Galaxy S25 is “Qi2 Ready”. Here’s what it really means

This is important because, while we MagSafe lovers have done it with MagSafe Android phone cases these last years, there has always been a warning that these cases can not work everyone MagSafe products. With Qi2 Ready cases, you can rest easy knowing they will work with Qi2 chargers.

It is worth noting that OnePlus’ latest flagship phone, the OnePlus 13is it not a Qi2 Ready phone, however, OnePlus sells a magnetic case to activate such as Qi2 load This is the old approach of adding magnetic charging to phones with basic Qi support, and that’s it will do not turn your phone into a Qi2 device. While it may look similar, you may not enjoy faster charging speeds, it won’t be as energy efficient, and it’s not guaranteed to work with all Qi2 accessories. Golden says Qi2 Ready phones have “special features built into them” to enable proper Qi2 functionality when paired with a Qi2 Ready case.

Alas, as soon as you take these Qi2 Ready cases off the phone, the magnetic functionality disappears. This may not be a problem for most people. It is difficult to find recent statistics, but a YouGov 2023 survey found that approximately 68 percent of Americans use a cell phone caseand a 2017 study put this number to 79 percent. But it stinks for those of us who don’t like to use a case. Pour one for the devils without a case.

I can remember dozens of times when I had to remove my iPhone case to attach a wireless microphone to the USB-C port or to put the phone on a gimbal. Removing the case didn’t change anything because iPhones have built-in magnets, but that’s something will impact Qi2 Ready phones, and it’s a frustrating limitation.

I think Qi2 Ready phones are an acceptable measure. Considering it’s cheaper than embedding magnets in a phone, I hope that makes sense more budget and midrange smartphones can enjoy Qi2 capabilities.

However, I worry that this will make things confusing for the average person. New phones will support Qi, but not Qi2, but they have to have Qi2 Ready cases to enable Qi2 – my brain hurts just typing this. If they only had native Qi2 support, magnetic charging would still work with any Qi2 accessory. Easy peasy.

The good news is that Samsung and Google have committed to releasing official Qi2 Android phones in 2025, so is it along the way, although it feels strange that Samsung may not end up debuting on its flagship smartphone series.

I have to make do with a magnetic case (again), but for the love of God, can someone just give me my magnetic Android already?