The Google Pixel “a” series is the affordable option in the lineup, but it doesn’t mean all of the best features are omitted. While the Pixel 8a is still under wraps, whether or not it will have wireless charging might be an easy question to answer.
Wireless charging has been a standard in most flagship devices for the last few years. The standard known as “Qi” wireless charging has remained much unchanged, though manufacturers have been able to build phones with higher charging rates to increase the speed that a phone can top off. One of the main drawbacks to wireless charging is the speed, which is a lot slower than wired charging. The method also produces a lot of heat, which hinders efficiency.
On phones like the Pixel 8 Pro, Google is able to equip a wireless charging coil with a 23W charge rate, which is a decent speed while we haven’t seen Google adopt Qi2 just yet. The Pixel 8 – the less powerful option – carries a wireless charging rate of 18W, which isn’t all that bad either but is less than the previous Pixel 7 model that came before it.
Of course, those devices range from $699 and up, which has users expecting wireless charging to some degree.
But the Pixel 8a will be part of the “a” series, which comes as a midrange option for users looking to buy something capable at a lower price. Google has a long line of these devices, and the latest ones, like the Pixel 6a and Pixel 7a, have been relatively well-received. They bring the same stock Android feel to a phone that doesn’t cost more than half of a thousand dollars. However, the Pixel 8a may actually start at a heftier price, which is uncharacteristic for the series.
Does affordable mean wireless charging?
Google’s phones have had wireless charging stretching back to the Pixel 3, but the Pixel 7a was actually the first “a” device to see wireless charging. It has a charging rate of 7.5W, which isn’t great but it’s something. It’s essentially there for the sake of existing, which is all that some users really want.
With that in mind, it’s very likely the Pixel 8a will have wireless charging. It would be odd for Google to bring the standard to the Pixel 7a and skip over the feature in the 8a when it releases. Keep in mind that there’s still very little officially known about the upcoming midrange device, but wireless charging would likely be on the table.
Something to note is that the Pixel 8a probably won’t carry a high wireless charging rate. It may be higher than the 7.5W in the Pixel 7a but somewhere under the 18W rate that the Pixel 8 has. It likely won’t support Qi2, either. Qi2 is the upcoming wireless charging standard with a MagSafe-like structure that Google may debut on the Pixel 9 series.
The Pixel 7a set a pattern for Google to keep up with, and the upcoming Pixel 8a should benefit from having wireless charging.
Google is likely to announce the Pixel 8a in May during Google I/O.
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