The Samsung Galaxy S25 series brought absolutely no changes to its battery or charging tech. Besides the S25+ (which maintained the 45W charging introduced since the S22+), the other two models stuck to the exact same charging specs they’ve had since the S20 generation in 2020, and that includes the 15W wireless charging.
Speaking of wireless charging, one thing we hoped to see with the S25 series was support for Qi2 wireless charging—and consequently, support for magnetic accessories, similar to Apple’s MagSafe. Well, there’s good news and bad news. The good news is there’s Qi2—in fact, Qi 2.1. The bad news? Magnets don’t “quite” show up.
Samsung’s Newest Flagships Support the Qi 2.1 Wireless Charging Standard
The Samsung Galaxy S25 phones are yet to be in consumers’ hands—that will come on February 7th. As a result, we’re still slowly learning new things about these smartphones. One new thing that’s being added to the mix is information about the wireless charging standard. Each of the new devices supports Qi 2.1, marking the very first devices to come with the new standard.
Qi 2.1 doesn’t bring any improvements to charging speed, which is surely one of the things that a lot of people were hoping for. At the same time, it doesn’t make inbuilt magnetic rings mandatory—in the case of the Galaxy S25 family, the magnets still don’t show up inside the phone itself.
However, Qi 2.1 does bring some minor (but neat) additions. For one, it brings support for the Magnetic Cover Power Enhancement (MCPE) and Magnetic Cover Power Magnet (MCPM) profiles, which is a fancy way of saying that magnetic phone cases are now officially supported and your phone will be able to detect when one is on your phone. This should also usher in better standardization of magnetic cases.
It also brings support for Automatic Alignment Profile (AAP) chargers—those will be wireless chargers, mostly intended for cars, that can actively move their charging coils to align with wherever your phone’s coil is. That means you can put in even less effort when it comes to snapping your phone to the magnetic charging coil. No cars have the feature as of now, but it’ll be cool to see!
This Is Only the Second Time We See Android Devices with Qi2 or Higher
Apple has been proudly showing off its MagSafe tech for several years now, but the Android side of the world has yet to catch up. Last year, we saw the first Android phone with Qi2 support, in the form of the HMD Skyline—and that’s still the only Android device with support for the Magnetic Power Profile (MPP).
The S25 family has come to keep the HMD Skyline company, even though the flagships skipped out on the magnets. However, Samsung has allowed for a compromise, selling official cases with magnetic rings for compatibility with Qi 2 accessories. These cases have been around for some time, but this is one of the few times that an OEM has made its own first-party options.
