A Pixel 10 with Qi2 is a reason for Samsung and others to be embarrassed

Next week, Google will take to the stage to announce, among other things, the Pixel 10 lineup. It’s been a long time coming; we first started hearing about the Pixel 10 over two years ago, when word of its TSMC-made Tensor G5 chipset first started leaking. As is usual for Google launches, countless renders and rumors have painted a pretty clear picture of the entire series, pairing an all-too-familiar exterior with, seemingly, some pretty meaningful under-the-hood changes.

One of those changes is Pixelsnap, Google’s leaked branding for its first series of Qi2-compliant accessories. Qi2 brings the best of Apple’s MagSafe to practically any other smartphone, but despite the standard’s official launch in 2023, we’ve seen very little in terms of proper support. That will finally change with the Pixel 10 series though, with Google offering both official first-party magnetic cases and, crucially, magnets built right into the phones’ chassis.

It’s a plan that stands in stark contrast to two of Google’s Android partners: Samsung and OnePlus. Both brands opted to embrace the already-existing world of Qi2-compliant accessories rather than actually bringing new functionality to devices like the Galaxy S25 and OnePlus 13. While their respective flagships are technically “Qi2 Ready,” that’s a meaningless distinction conjured up by the Wireless Power Consortium — the organization behind Qi — to allow OEMs to claim support for Qi2 without actually having to support Qi2. Here’s the explanation from its CES announcement earlier this year:

The growth of the Qi2 ecosystem will continue with the introduction of Qi2 Ready certified devices. These devices—smartphones and accessories such as cases—deliver the full Qi2 user experience when paired together in approved combinations.

In my eyes, this was an act of cowardice on the part of the WPC, allowing Samsung and other phonemakers to market a genuinely cool feature for consumers while, in reality, locking it behind an accessory-based paywall. It also meant that anyone who wanted to use the Galaxy S25 Ultra or OnePlus 13 without a case was actually stuck with a smartphone that was very much not “Qi2 Ready.”

Really though, the most frustrating aspect of this entire debacle is just how late these brands are to the party. Practically every major third-party case manufacturer now offers at least one variant that includes a rear-mounted magnetic plate. These accessories are almost always cheaper than first-party alternatives, and often — though not always — deliver better quality than anything developed by an OEM itself.

Personally, I found fault with basically all three of the OnePlus offerings when I went hands-on earlier this year. The carbon fiber variant drove me nuts in particular; it might as well come pre-smudged out of the box, the way it never actually gets clean. Meanwhile, Samsung has the audacity to sell a bland, clear magnetic case for its $2,000 Galaxy Z Fold 7 for a whopping $55, and it doesn’t even protect the entire phone. (The Galaxy S25 cases, while cheaper, have seemingly been out of stock for ages and have been quite poorly received by customers — another reason “Qi2 Ready” is pure nonsense.)

Google, thankfully, hasn’t followed this trend. Next week, when the Pixel 10 makes its official debut, it’ll likely become the first major Android brand to offer Qi2 functionality built right into the device itself. We’ve also seen first-party Pixelsnap-supported cases leak recently, which will be available alongside a smattering of third-party offerings on Amazon and elsewhere. In other words, the Pixel 10 series is all but certain to be the first Android hardware to offer parity with Apple’s MagSafe accessories, and I think that’s absolutely cause for celebration.

But let’s be very clear: There is absolutely no reason Google had to be first on this. This isn’t a situation where Qi2 as a standard simply wasn’t ready in time for OnePlus and Samsung’s respective 2025 launches. To reiterate, the WPC announced its first round of certification testing for Qi2 back in November of 2023, and while that may have ruled out support for the OnePlus 12 and Galaxy S24, it certainly wasn’t a hurdle for HMD when it launched the Qi2-compliant Skyline last summer. That phone might not have made a cultural splash, per se, but it did prove that Qi2 was ready for any company willing to adopt it.

I even discussed this with OnePlus ahead of the OnePlus 13’s launch earlier this year, with the company telling me the decision to not include Qi2 directly into the phone came from internal space restrictions. I’m not sure how much I buy into this train of thought; not only would I have personally sacrificed a sliver of that massive multi-day 6,000mAh capacity for proper support, but leaked dimensions seemingly show Google managing to build its own magnets into the Pixel 10 with just a minor bump to device thickness over last-gen hardware — while also including larger batteries.

The Pixel’s late-summer to early-fall launch windows practically guarantee the company falling behind on certain cutting-edge specs, effectively acting as an answer to earlier flagships just as its rivals prep new hardware for the upcoming year. Just take Tensor G5, for example; whatever advancements that chipset delivers in efficiency or AI prowess could easily be beat by the Snapdragon 8 Elite’s successor in a matter of months. As a result, OnePlus and Samsung are the brands usually leading the charge on more powerful hardware, specifically timing their devices to Qualcomm’s own SoC lifecycle.

And yet, it’s Google that will take a victory lap on Qi2, despite both of its rivals arguably needing that sort of win. The Galaxy S25 series was met with a major shrug from critics like myself, who found the lack of hardware innovation and overall focus on lackluster Galaxy AI tools to be something of a bust. OnePlus, meanwhile, is struggling to maintain any sort of meaningful US market share since leaving carrier stores behind. While I doubt native Qi2 support would’ve caused Pixel and Galaxy fans to throw their respective phones off a cliff, it certainly wouldn’t have hurt — especially as a much-needed differentiator.

People love MagSafe. You don’t need to look much farther than the explosion in popularity of Android-specific MagSafe-supported cases to see it. By extension, people are going to love Qi2, even if they know it primarily by Google’s own Pixelsnap branding. And while I feel fairly confident that one or both of these “Qi2 Ready” brands will eventually follow suit by adding real support to their phones alongside overpriced in-house cases, it leaves them both as followers in a stagnant market, when they both could’ve been seen as innovators.