Leaks continue to tell us the GalaxyS26 series won’t be a particularly big upgrade, and it seems more likely than ever that one of the biggest expected changes, the addition of native Qi2 magnets, won’t be happening – “my day is ruined and my disappointment is immeasurable.”
To date, Google’s Pixel 10 series has been the only major Android smartphone lineup to adopt native Qi2 magnets, finally matching a feature that’s been a core part of the iPhone for half a decade, and an open industry standard for the past couple of years too. Samsung has dabbled in Qi2, using an official method of putting magnets onto cases instead of within the actual phone.
The Galaxy S26 series was where Samsung was finally expected to fully embrace Qi2.
Early leaks strongly suggested that Samsung was designing the Galaxy S26 series with Qi2 magnets in mind, with later hints including faster wireless charging speeds in line with the latest standard updates. Leaks have even shown that Samsung is building actual Qi2 accessories for the Galaxy S26 series including a magnetic power bank and a MagSafe-style magnetic wireless charging puck.
Advertisement – scroll for more content
But, as leaks have continued, there’s been more and more doubt around whether or not the Galaxy S26 series will actually have magnets inside. I’ve been going back and forth on this personally, but a new leak from Nieuwemobiel tells a pretty clear story that, no, the Galaxy S26 series won’t have native Qi2 magnets inside.
Alongside revealing new details about the Galaxy S26 Ultra’s S Pen, this latest leak shows off first-party Samsung cases for the Galaxy S26 both in magnetic and non-magnetic varieties. Put simply, the existence of a non-magnetic case from Samsung for these new phones just about rules out native Qi2 support.
The magnets inside of a phone with Qi2 support work great when there’s no case, but a case of any real thickness loosens the magnets to the point where accessories such as mounts, wallets, etc don’t have the strength they need to stay properly adhered. As such, phones with actual Qi2 support have magnets in virtually every case – especially the first-party ones – because the magnets in the case keep the strength needed for additional accessories. No one wants to use a case that actively breaks one of the phone’s core features.
Is this a “smoking gun” regarding Samsung’s lack of Qi2 support on the Galaxy S26?
I’d argue yes!
There’s absolutely still a possibility that Samsung continues forward with magnets inside of these phones, but there are way more signs pointing towards the company yet again skipping out on this feature than there are any shreds of evidencde pointing towards true. It’d be entirely unsurprising to find out that Samsung scrapped its Qi2 plans – which obviously were in place at some point – when it went back to the drawing board on the whole Galaxy S26 series following the iPhone 17’s launch.
It’s also worth noting that these non-magnetic cases are shown both for the Galaxy S26/+ and the Ultra, so it really seems there’s just no magnets across the board.
As mentioned at the outset, I’m personally very disappointed by this. Qi2 has been by far my favorite upgrade of the Pixel 10 series – I’m not alone there – and it just seems insane for Samsung to go another year without it. Not only is this a feature that customers clearly love, but one that the competitive market demands. Apple set the trend, and Samsung, despite literally having the tools handed to it on a silver platter, continues to ignore it.
I’m also absolutely blown away that Samsung is literally building accessories that require magnets despite the phones not supporting them natively. Lets say an excited Galaxy S26 Ultra buyer picks up Samsung’s first-party case (without magnets) and sees this new charger, only to find out that to use it, they have to buy a different case? That’s just absurd! Going back to the idea that Samsung was originally planning magnets before scrapping plans, that’s probably where the development of these new accessories came from, but it makes the whole situation all the more confusing to customers, and is just a terrible look on Samsung’s part.
Selling these for a phone that can’t even use it is just… dumb
I was really looking forward to the Galaxy S26 series, especially with the Ultra looking pretty nice in the latest leaked poster from Evan Blass (@evleaks, via “leakmail”), but my excitement is waning the more I’m hearing, and this one really just feels like one of the last nails in the coffin.
What do you think? Were you looking forward to Samsung finally adopting Qi2? Sound off in the comments below, or on the new 9to5Google Forums!
More on Samsung:
Follow Ben: Twitter/X, Threads, Bluesky, and Instagram
Updated headline for clarity.
FTC: We use income earning auto affiliate links. More.
