It doesn’t cost $10 million to add Qi2 magnets to an Android phone

The near-complete absence of Qi2 magnets in Android phones ended with the launch of the Pixel 10 series, but why did it take so long? In a recent video, Nothing suggested it was partially due to cost, as the company estimated it would cost a company about $10 million to implement Qi2. If that sounds ridiculous… it kind of is, as the WPC has confirmed this is not the case.

To recap, Nothing recently discussed in a “dream phone” video that the company had estimated the cost of implementing Qi2 magnets at around $10 million. That high cost, Nothing claimed, was due to the “magnet configurations that optimally support Apple-compatible wireless chargers [being] patented and restricted.”

At first glance, this already seems wrong. The Qi2 specification includes not only the wireless charging hardware, but also the magnetic array. After all, the original Qi2 spec required magnets to be built into the device and, as we found while looking at the Pixel 10’s alignment magnet, the information on magnets is right there within the Qi2 spec.

In a recent statement to TechAltar, the Wireless Power Consortium – the organization in charge of Qi2 – confirmed that Nothing’s claim is likely incorrect, and that the company “may not understand the situation.” As Nothing is not a member of the WPC – like Google, Samsung, and others are – the company doesn’t have full access to the licensing of Qi2.

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The WPC explains:

If Nothing was a WPC member, they would have access to the specs and favorable licensing terms under RAND. Knowing that Google, HMD, Samsung (plus others soon) already are using the magnets in phones or covers suggests that Nothing may not understand the situation.

Does that mean there’s no cost? Certainly not. As Android Authority points out, being a WPC member has annual costs. The total is $30,000 annually, including a $10,000 “ecosystem fee” in that price as detailed on the WPC website.

So, does Nothing’s claim make any sense?

Not really, but there is one thing that might explain it. Qi2 as a standard is different from that of the original MagSafe feature. As such, the Pixel 10 series doesn’t charge at full speed on a MagSafe charger, usually being limited to 5W, where it would see faster speeds on something designed for Qi2. Reading between the lines of Nothing’s claim, it seems the company is aiming not just to add magnets to a device, but to make the device fully compatible with chargers designed for the iPhone. That indeed would probably cost a whole lot more than implementing Qi2. However, it also seems extremely unnecessary in 2025 when there’s a thriving ecosystem of Qi2 accessories ready not just for the iPhone, but for anyone willing to implement Qi2.

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