A Galaxy S26 feature that may not matter much if you use a case

One of the rumored upgrades for the Galaxy S26 series is built-in magnets that let the phone attach directly to MagSafe-style accessories without a case. That sounds useful. In practice, it probably won’t change much for you, at least if you use a case.

Once your phone is in a case, built-in magnets don’t matter unless the case itself supports magnetic accessories. And that’s already the situation today. If you want to use magnetic wireless chargers, car mounts, stands, or battery packs, you can just buy a case with magnets built in.

Magnets are part of this discussion because of wireless charging standards like Qi2. Qi2 doesn’t necessarily make your phone charge faster. It mainly makes charging and accessory alignment more consistent. Phones with built-in magnets do this automatically. For phones without them, a good magnet-enabled case already delivers almost the same experience.

The Galaxy S26 series is expected to support the newer Qi2.2 standard, which does bring faster wireless charging. Qi2.2 raises charging speeds beyond 15W, with the Galaxy S26 Ultra expected to reach up to 25W and the regular S26 and S26+ up to 20W.

That’s a welcome and long overdue upgrade, but it’s about charging speed, not magnets or accessories. The faster speeds come from the newer standard itself, not from whether the magnets are built into the phone.

If you’re using a flagship Galaxy phone launched in 2025, you can already use magnetic accessories today with the right case. Built-in magnets mainly benefit you if you don’t use a case at all, which is a valid choice but not a common one.

Built-in magnets aren’t useless. They’re convenient, and if Samsung adds them to the Galaxy S26 series, you won't find anyone complaining. Just don’t expect it to change how you actually use your phone.