Wireless charging has always had one obvious weakness: it’s slow. While wired charging on flagship phones has pushed well past 60W and even 100W in some cases, wireless has mostly hovered around 15W for mainstream devices. That could be about to change.
The Wireless Power Consortium, the group behind the Qi2 standard, is reportedly working on a new version of the spec that would support up to 50W wireless charging. If adopted by major manufacturers, it could mean significantly faster top-ups for future Google Pixel and iPhone models, which both currently rely on Qi2 for their wireless charging.
According to 9to5Google, the updated standard is in development and could make its way into consumer devices in the coming years. The current Qi2 standard, which launched in 2023, topped out at 15W for most devices, though some Android phones using proprietary solutions have gone much higher for years.
This matters because Apple and Google have both tied themselves closely to Qi2. Apple helped co-develop the standard and uses it across its iPhone lineup. Google adopted it with the Pixel 8 series. Both companies have been reluctant to chase the high-watt proprietary wireless charging that brands like OnePlus and Xiaomi have offered for some time, citing concerns around heat and battery longevity.
A jump to 50W within a shared open standard is significant. It would let Apple and Google increase wireless charging speeds without building their own closed systems, which is how the Android space has handled fast wireless charging up to now. Brands like OnePlus have hit 50W wirelessly for a couple of years already, so this would bring the broader ecosystem closer to parity.
There are still open questions. Higher wattage wireless charging generates more heat, and how the new spec handles thermal management will matter a lot for real-world performance. The MagSafe-style magnetic alignment that Qi2 introduced should help with coil positioning, but thermal control is a separate engineering challenge that each manufacturer will handle differently.
It’s also worth noting that a spec existing and phones actually shipping with it are two different things. The original Qi2 standard took time to see wide adoption after its announcement. A 50W version would likely follow a similar path, appearing in high-end devices first before spreading more broadly. For now, this is a development to watch rather than something buyers need to factor into a purchase decision today.