Hold on, the best Samsung Galaxy S26 rumour might not be true after all – and that's just ruined our day

Samsung's forthcoming Galaxy S26 family of phones might not support Qi2 charging or built-in magnets. The new flagship phones from the company were thought to be coming with Apple-like MagSafe-style charging when they launch on 25 February, but new information raises some doubts.

The new details come from Nieuwemobiel (via 9to5Google), which revealed some accessories for the new phones. That includes both magnetic and non-magnetic cases. And the existence of non-magnetic cases suggests that the phone might not natively feature magnets for Qi2 support, as previously thought.

Let's go back to the beginning of this rumour. In late 2025, code was found that suggested the Galaxy S26 Ultra would support faster charging speeds. Amongst that was the term "super fast wireless charging", assumed to be the 25W charging that the Qi2.2 standard introduced.

No sooner had that information appeared, we shared that Samsung was launching magnetic charging accessories, something that appeared more that once, including a MagSafe-style battery back.

All these things would be great with a phone that had integrated magnets to support faster wireless charging, which so far has only been adopted by the Pixel 10 in the Android sphere. While the iPhone 17 Pro adopted faster wireless charging speeds, the iPhone has offered MagSafe since iPhone 12.

However, the appearance of the non-magnetic cases for the Galaxy S26, suggests that there are no magnets in the phone itself. Using a normal case on a phone with magnets would reduce the strength of the attachment, so that accessories are less likely to stick.

If Samsung was putting magnets into the phone, why sell a case that would potentially neutralise that feature? Yes, cases don't have to have the silly circle on the back to emphasise magnets – Apple has plenty of MagSafe cases that don't look like that, but in this situation we see identical cases from Samsung, one with magnets and one without.

That suggests that if you want to use magnetic accessories, you buy the case with magnets. If you don't, you just get a normal case, which was exactly the situation for previous Galaxy S phones.

It's a blow to the expectation that Samsung was going to add this feature to its new flagships and catch-up with the fun that Apple offers through its MagSafe system. While Samsung could be offering identical cases (some of which won't work with MagSafe) it would seem like a confusing choice to present to customers.

The news might temper excitement for Samsung's latest devices. According to the most recent leaks, the changes are minimal, with a slight shift in design, a new chip and the addition of Privacy Display.

If you want proper integrated magnets in your phone, then the Pixel 10 Pro XL might be the phone for you.