Your New iPhone Might Be Getting a Neat Fast-Charging Ability

This week, there was big news in the world of wireless charging. The Wireless Power Consortium (WPC) announced the introduction of a new, faster wireless charging standard. It’s called Qi2 25W.

As the name gives away, the new Qi2 25W standard supports wireless charging up to 25 watts, while the 2023-released Qi2 standard maxed out 15 watts. The original Qi standard maxed out at 7.5 watts, which was very slow.

Basically, the new Qi2 25W wireless chargers are going to be able to wirelessly charge future smartphones — both iPhones and Androids — way faster than before.

Photo by Tucker Bowe for Gear Patrol

What does this mean for my iPhone?

Wireless charging for your iPhone has evolved quite a bit in recent years. When Apple introduced the first iPhone with MagSafe — the iPhone 12, released in 2020 — it could wirelessly charge at up to 15 watts, which was significantly faster than before.

For the next few years, if you had an iPhone with MagSafe, you wanted to pair it with a MagSafe-certified wireless charger to ensure the fastest charging speeds.

A lot changed with the release of Qi2 in 2023, as it was revealed that the WPC worked with Apple to create it. Thus, Qi2 had the same two big advantages of MagSafe: magnets and fast iPhone charging at up to 15 watts.

This was a significant development because it allowed iPhone users to purchase a Qi2 wireless charger instead of a MagSafe charger. They’d deliver the same wireless charging speeds, but the Qi2 model would be notably more affordable.

Then last year, with the introduction of the iPhone 16 range, Apple gave its newest iPhones even faster MagSafe charging: up to 25 watts when connected to a 30-watt (or faster) adapter. But it was only supported by iPhone 16s.

When the iPhone 17 rolls out, which will support this Qi2 25W standard, it again means you won’t have to buy a more expensive MagSafe charger to get the fastest wireless charging speeds. (Unless Apple makes MagSafe even more powerful.)

Twelve South

When’s it coming?

According to the WPC, in addition to the iPhone, “major Android smartphones will join the Qi2 ecosystem for the first time with this launch.” This means that a lot of future smartphones, iPhone and Android alike, will have similar fast charging capabilities.

That said, Apple and Android manufacturers will likely find new proprietary ways to charge their devices even faster. A rumor surrounding the iPhone 17 suggests it could potentially charge at 35 watts over MagSafe.

As for when Qi2 25W will become available, it seems pretty imminent. According to the WPC’s press release, fourteen devices, receivers and transmitters have all completed Qi2 25W certification testing, while “full-scale certification testing” is now open to several hundred devices.

You can expect to see third-party wireless chargers that support Qi2 25W to start making appearances in the coming weeks. In fact, there’s even a small chance that Apple rolls out a firmware update giving Qi2 25W to the iPhone 16 in the future.

To learn more about Qi2 25W, you can read the WPC’s press release.

Related Topics