Gadget Weekly
Join Namerah Saud Fatmi as she explores the cool, quirky, and sometimes downright odd world of smartphone accessories, gadgets, and other nerdy toys every week.
The cat’s out of the bag with the latest alleged leak from SuomiMobiili, a Finnish tech news site. Reportedly, Samsung will release a Qi2-compatible case for the Galaxy S25 series to go with the phones. The question is, what would this mean for the S25 lineup?
There’s a lot of speculation going on at the moment, and for now, nothing regarding Qi2 support on Samsung’s next flagships has been confirmed. That said, I believe that the company isn’t going to bring native Qi2 support to its entire S25 family of phones due out in January 2025. My guess is that the base model S25 and S25 Plus could have Qi2 onboard, but probably not the S25 Ultra.
See, we ran tests and discovered that strong magnetic accessories interfere with the S Pen’s functionality on the S24 Ultra. Bringing Qi2, a standard that is basically just rebranded MagSafe with 15W wireless charging, to the S25 Ultra would require Samsung to change the blueprint for its Ultra model, which is a big undertaking.
If the S25 Ultra skips native Qi2 compatibility, it’s likely because Samsung did not have enough time to figure out a fix. A Qi2 phone cover is a short-term solution to buy time for Samsung until the S26 Ultra. Hopefully, by then, the brand will have found a way to rectify the magnetic interference issue.
It might not be the S Ultra phone’s redesign alone that could solve the S Pen problem. Recently, another report surfaced from a Korean news outlet stating that Samsung is considering switching from EMR to battery-powered active electrostatic (AES) technology for S Pen styli meant to be used with the Galaxy Z Fold 7.
The intention behind this move would be to make the Fold 7 thinner by removing the digitizer that goes on top of its display, which is the part that adds support for EMR stylus input. EMR is an abbreviation for electromagnetic resonance, a technology that works by interacting with a magnetic field on a screen’s surface.
It might not be the S Ultra phone’s redesign alone that could solve the S Pen problem.
All S Pens are based on Wacom’s EMR pen technology, including the one for the S24 Ultra. In fact, the only reason why you need to charge your S Pen at all is because of its Bluetooth features, like air gestures. EMR itself doesn’t require any power whatsoever, but it does require a digitizer screen to work.
It could be possible that it’s the EMR technology clashing with Qi2 or MagSafe magnetic accessories that causes the S Pen to malfunction. In that case, Samsung could switch over to AES tech on the Galaxy S26 Ultra following the Z Fold 7, fixing the thickness issue on the Fold 7 and potentially the Qi2/S Pen problem on the S26 Ultra. The only problem is that this will result in the S Pen being less compact than the current ones. Maybe that’s why Samsung needs more time and is reportedly settling for a Qi2 workaround instead, at least for the time being.
It’s high time the big phone brands started adopting the Qi2 standard. It’s embarrassing to the Android phone space to think that HMD Global was the first brand to commit to native Qi2 support. Innovations like Qi2 keep the ball rolling in the smartphone industry and push for the conception of newer technologies and specifications.
As reliable and popular as Samsung’s Galaxy S series might be, the phones have become increasingly stale over the past two releases. The Galaxy S22, S23, and S24 all look nearly identical and don’t change much. And with Galaxy AI available on both the S22 and S23 series, there are even fewer reasons for anyone to really want to buy the latest Samsung phone.
The S25 series desperately needs something fresh, and Qi2 is definitely that “something fresh” that can breathe new life into the Galaxy S lineup.
