Wireless charging has been talking about convenience for years, but Qi2 finally feels like the moment where that promise stopped being theoretical and started showing up in everyday routines—on desks, bedside tables, cars, and increasingly on wrists. According to the Wireless Power Consortium, the pace of Qi2 adoption through 2025 wasn’t just healthy, it was aggressive in the best sense of the word. More than 1,200 new Qi2-certified products entered the market in a single year, spanning both transmitters and receivers, which is the kind of number that only appears when manufacturers are no longer hedging. If that curve holds, and all signs suggest it will, close to four billion Qi2 devices are expected to ship globally over the next five years, a scale that quietly reshapes how people think about charging altogether.
That momentum is being put on display at Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas from January 6 to 9, where the WPC is spotlighting not just adoption figures, but the next technical step forward with Qi2 25W devices. These aren’t abstract lab demos either; they’re shipping products designed to feel fast in the way users actually notice. Tests show Qi2 25W charging from 0% to 50% in roughly 30 minutes, a figure that lands squarely in wired-charger territory, and that’s the quiet psychological shift here. Once wireless stops feeling slower, the cable starts to feel optional, then slightly annoying, then suddenly unnecessary. You can almost picture it: a phone snapping into place magnetically, charging briskly while you half-notice it, no fumbling, no replugging after you nudged it wrong.
What’s interesting is how strongly consumers are already responding, even before those faster products fully hit shelves. An independent global study cited by the consortium found that 88% of smartphone users were either extremely or somewhat satisfied with their Qi2 wireless charging experience, which is a high bar for something as mundane—and easy to complain about—as charging. Even more telling, 89% of users who upgraded from older Qi-certified devices reported higher satisfaction with Qi2, suggesting the improvement is felt, not just marketed. Paul Struhsaker, Executive Director of the WPC, frames it as an industry alignment moment, where manufacturers collectively decided what “good” should look like and then actually delivered on it—faster charging, safer operation, and efficiency that doesn’t punish batteries over time.
The ecosystem itself also widened in subtle but important ways during 2025. Qi2 Ready certification brought in smartphones and accessories like cases that unlock the full Qi2 experience when paired correctly, which sounds minor until you realize how much friction accessories can introduce. When the system just works as intended, consumers stop thinking about compatibility charts and start trusting the logo again. Alongside that, Qi v2.1 APP quietly arrived with a very different use case in mind: cars. Instead of relying on magnetic alignment, it uses a moving coil design to compensate for vibration, motion, and imperfect placement—basically acknowledging real driving conditions rather than pretending everyone places their phone perfectly while cornering. It’s a pragmatic solution, and those tend to age well.
All of this together makes Qi2 feel less like a feature upgrade and more like infrastructure finally catching up to behavior. People don’t want to think about charging; they want it to happen quickly, safely, and without ceremony. Qi2’s growth numbers, satisfaction scores, and expanding use cases suggest the industry is finally listening—and, for once, delivering.
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