Wireless charging may finally be on the verge of shedding its biggest annoyance: speed. A new report says the Wireless Power Consortium is working on a Qi2 update that would push wireless charging to 50W, doubling the current ceiling and giving phone makers a better shot at making cords feel optional instead of necessary.
That would be a meaningful jump, even if it is arriving slowly enough to test anyone’s patience. Qi2 only reached 25W in 2025 with the Google Pixel 10, while many phones had been stuck around 15W for years before that. A cleaner, faster standard would also help wireless charging catch up with the rest of the smartphone market, where battery size and wired charging speeds have been moving faster than the pad on your desk.
Qi2 50W details and timing
According to the report, the Wireless Power Consortium held an off-cycle meeting at Xiaomi’s Beijing headquarters in late June, with Apple, Google, Huawei, and other major phone makers in the room. Xiaomi is said to have driven much of the technical work, including an architecture designed to handle higher power without overheating. That part matters more than the headline number; nobody wants a charging pad that turns your phone into a space heater.
- Current Qi2 ceiling: 25W
- Planned Qi2 update: 50W
- Qi2 25W arrived in 2025 with the Google Pixel 10
- Official release of Qi2 50W is not expected until around 2028
Apple, Google and Xiaomi all have skin in it
Apple and Google have both been involved in recent Qi2 development, which makes future iPhone and Pixel models obvious candidates for the faster standard eventually. The bigger picture is less about one company winning bragging rights and more about the ecosystem finally agreeing on something useful: if the industry can standardize higher-power wireless charging, accessory makers get a clearer target and users get fewer half-baked pads.
The long runway to 2028 is a reminder that charging specs move at committee speed, not consumer speed. But if the technical groundwork is already set, the next few years may be less about whether Qi2 50W happens and more about which phones, cases, and chargers are ready when it does.