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It appears that Apple is quietly making wireless charging more flexible by unlocking faster speeds on third-party accessories. The company has silently added this feature in iOS 26, which will be available to all users next month, potentially alongside the iPhone 17 launch. What’s interesting is that all iPhone 16 models, except for one, will now support faster wireless charging, adhering to the new Qi2 25W standard. This means you can use third-party wireless chargers from brands like Belkin and not just Apple’s own MagSafe accessories.
Apple’s iOS 26 update finally opens up faster 25W Qi2 wireless charging for iPhone 16, though one model misses out.
For context, all iPhone 16 models were already capable of being wirelessly charged at 25W, but you could only use Apple’s MagSafe chargers. To achieve the same speeds previously required an upgraded MagSafe charger paired with a 30W adapter. Now, iOS 26 will enable the same 25W speeds through any compatible Qi2.2 or Qi2 25W accessory (via MacRumors).
Belkin has already announced a trio of Qi2 25W chargers for the iPhone 16 lineup, promising similar performance with 0 to 50 percent in 30 minutes. You can now choose your favorite wireless charger capable of pushing 25W speeds and use it on the go or as part of your themed desk setup. It’s also good to see that this feature is not reserved for the upcoming iPhone 17 lineup but has been rolled out for existing hardware, indicating future support for the iPhone 17 series.
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While the feature is available for the entire iPhone 16 lineup, one particular model—the iPhone 16e—does not support the Qi2 wireless charging standard. However, there’s a possibility that future models of this device will have this option. The change was spotted in the latest iOS 26 beta and will be officially released next month.
Google also announced new Pixel 10 devices a few days ago, with the Pixel 10 Pro models featuring faster wireless charging speeds, putting them head-to-head with the latest iPhone 16 lineup. We’ll cover more details on this topic in future updates.
