MagSafe is coming to Qi

January 04, 2023

MagSafe is truly one of the wonders of the modern world.

It makes wireless charging way better and easier, and it's great for accessories like car mounts. There's a range of useful and interesting gewgaws that can be clamped magnetically to the back of your iPhone.

And now it's coming to Android -- and everything else that's charged wirelessly.

The Wireless Power Consortium says Apple's MagSafe will be built into the next-generation Qi charging standard, allowing a range of devices to benefit from the magnetic system.

This is a win for everyone, and it's great to see a good idea like MagSafe get the widest possible distribution throughout the product world by becoming a standard.

Kudos to Apple for letting this happen.

-- Leander Kahney, EIC.

MagSafe is headed for non-Apple handsets. The Wireless Power Consortium is making Apple’s wireless charging system for iPhone into an industry standard dubbed "Qi2." The first Qi2 devices are expected to be on the market by the end of 2023.

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One more thing ...

"The only purpose for me in building a company is so that it can make products. Of course, building a very strong company and a foundation of talent and culture is essential over the long run to keep making great products. On the other hand, to me, the company is one of humanity's most amazing inventions. It's totally abstract. Sure, you have to build something with bricks and mortar to put the people in, but basically, a company is this abstract construct we've invented, and it's incredibly powerful." -- Steve Jobs, 1998.

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