A flurry of reports said the Pixel 3 XL will have wireless charging, marking a first for the Pixel line. We haven’t had wireless charging on Google phones in years, with the 2014 Nexus 6 being the last Nexus phone to support it. At the time Google said that fast USB-C charging would more than make up for the lack of wireless charging.
But now, we finally have confirmation that the Pixel 3’s battery can be recharged wirelessly.
Why the sudden change of heart? Google will probably explain it all during the Pixel event later this year. But let’s remember that, last year, Apple launched the first iPhone models that do wireless charging out of the box. So it was not surprising to see rumors saying that Pixel 3 phones would also support wireless charging. After all, the Pixel 3 XL does copy the iPhone X notch, and Google copied the iPhone X navigation gestures as well in Android Pie.
After providing Pixel 3 camera samples earlier, the same @khoroshev posted on Twitter a video in which he’s placing the Pixel 3 XL on a wireless charging device. As you can see below, it just works:
https://twitter.com/khoroshev/status/1032245675990441985
Previous reports did say the Pixel 3 XL will have a glass sandwich design just like the iPhone X, iPhone 8, and pretty much most 2018 flagship phones, which was a hint that wireless charging is in the works for the Pixel. Wireless charging is one reason to use glass rather than metal for the rear panel of a phone, and almost all glass phones offer wireless charging — the OnePlus 6 is a notable exception.
Google is expected to unveil the new phones in early October, although we probably already know everything there is to know about them.
