With the Pixel 3 and Pixel 3 XL, Google has once again reintroduced wireless charging to its smartphones. And keeping in line with the trend, Google has added 10W wireless charging support to the latest generation of Pixel devices. However, as it turns out, the Pixel 3 and Pixel 3 XL will only fast charge wirelessly when charged using Google’s own Pixel Stand. (https://www.thisnation.com/)

When being charged wirelessly with any other third-party charger that is capable of 10W wireless charging, the Pixel 3 and Pixel 3 XL will only charge at 5W.

Google says the Pixel 3 charges at 10W when charged wirelessly with the Pixel Stand thanks to a “secure handshake,” with third-party chargers limited to 5W. The move has been confirmed by Anker whose 10W wireless chargers are charging the Pixel 3 at 5W speeds.

Also, what we learned is that Google’s official wireless charger can provide 10W for the newly-released Pixel 3 and Pixel XL 3, however, according to our quality engineer, Pixel sets a limitation for a third-party charging accessories and we are afraid that even our fast wireless charger can only provide 5W for these 2x devices. Our quality team is to purchase this new models to have a try, once we get a test answer, we will keep the product page updated.

There are plenty of other Android smartphones in the market that can fast charge wirelessly at full 10W speeds including those from Samsung, Apple, and Huawei. So, it is a shame that Google is intentionally limiting third-party wireless chargers to 5W on the Pixel 3 series. The company seems to be solely doing this so as to promote its own Pixel wireless charging stand.

Here’s hoping that as this issue gains more media spotlight, Google ends up removing this stupid restriction from its Pixel 3 lineup.