Currently, there are two main ways to charge our devices: plug them into a power source, or charge them wirelessly using a Qi-enabled device. A little-known wireless charging standard, WLC, actually enables devices to charge via NFC - the same technology used by mobile transactions like Apple Pay and Google Pay. As it happens, Google seems to be working on bringing NFC charging to smartphones with the upcoming Android 15 update, but it's unclear why.
Mishaal Rahman of Android Authority discovered the feature in the first beta of Android 15 released by Google last week. Rahman noticed that Google added a new class to system applications to handle NFC: NfcCharging. If that wasn't clear enough, Rahman discovered that NfcCharging can start and stop charging via NFC, analyze the NFC charging information payload, and other functions.
When will you use NFC for charging?
We don't know what the timeline will be for adding NFC charging to Android, but there's no real reason to rush into the technology right now. Charging a device via NFC will be much slower than Qi wireless charging (and wired charging, of course) because the standard only supports charging up to 1W. Qi, on the other hand, has a maximum output of 15W, depending on the device and charger. Charging modern smartphones via NFC takes a long time . NFC charging isn't particularly practical when you can fully charge a phone like the OnePlus 12 in just over half an hour.
However, the standard might be more useful for smaller devices that use tiny batteries—such as Bluetooth trackers or styluses. While NFC charging is still slow, it could allow companies to put rechargeable batteries in products that currently use disposable batteries. Imagine your Pixel passively charging AirTag or Tile trackers whenever they're adjacent, rather than discarding them when the battery dies. If Google goes ahead with this technology and adds it to Android 15, it will be up to the market to decide whether to take advantage of the standard in new products.
This isn't the first time we've seen a software update add a new wireless charging standard to smartphones. In iOS 17.2, Apple added Qi2 charging to the iPhone, an improved version of Qi that allows for a magnetic connection to a wireless charger. In other words, this Android update can enable NFC wireless charging on the smartphone itself, rather than giving the smartphone a new charging method.
