Wireless charging for everyone: Android 15 to get support for NFC chargers

Smartphones such as the Google Pixel 7a (approx. 327 euros on Amazon, limited time deal) can aready be charged wirelessly on Qi charging pads, but manufacturers still often do without wireless charging completely, especially for cheaper smartphones, in order to save the cost. This could soon change, as Android Authority was able to find in the code of the latest Beta version of Android 15 that Google will support wireless charging via the NFC chip in the future.

Google has made major changes to the NFC software of Android and introduced a new class called "NfcCharging" which can start and stop charging processes and communicate the current charging power. The timing could indicate that NFC charging could be used for, among other things brand new AirTag alternatives that support Google's "Find My Device" network, because since NFC uses a tiny antenna instead of a large charging coil, these trackers could theoretically be charged using this technology by simply placing them on a Android smartphone.

However, it would also be possible to charge the smartphones themselves via NFC, as in 2023 the NFC Forum has announced a new, not yet unavailable NFC standard that would allow devices to be charged with up to 3 watts instead of the 1-watt that have been possible since 2020. Three watts would be enough to charge a device overnight and would make wireless charging much more affordable than before, although higher-end smartphones are likely to continue to rely on the significantly more powerful Qi standard with up to 15 watts.