Pixel 9 could arrive with MagSafe-like wireless charging technology

In accordance with the recent announcement by the Wireless Power Consortium (WPC), the certification testing for the Qi2 wireless charging standard has been completed. In simple words, it can now be used in products. Several accessories for Apple’s iPhone 15 lineup are the first devices that come with Qi2 certification. Furthermore, we can also anticipate that the tech giant Google might debut its Pixel 9 series with Qi2 compatibility next year.

Liyu Yang, a member of the board of directors at WPC, is a wireless charging expert. He works at Google as a senior hardware engineer. WPC’s blog post reveals that since 2017, Yang has been working on Pixel hardware. For the next Pixel products, Yang is “currently directing the research and design of future wireless charging technologies.” Well, the words “next generation wireless charging” and “future Pixel products” clearly suggest that the Qi2 charging standard might be introduced to the Pixel 9 series. Because Yang is a board member at WPC, it would be quite strange if modern wireless charging technology didn’t make its way to Google’s future smartphones.

When it comes to the Qi2 wireless charging technology, it is almost the same as Apple’s MagSafe. However, it has one major upgrade in terms of Magnetic Power Profile (MPP). In reality, the Cupertino company gave it to WPC. Its magnets almost perfectly line the transmitter and receiver coils, ensuring more efficient power transfer even though it still offers 15W of charging power. In addition to this, the Extended Power Profile (EPP) is another profile of Qi2. The only difference between the two profiles is the magnets. One thing to notice here is that the devices won’t get the new Qi2 label that has support for Qi2 but doesn’t include the magnets.