In the months since its release, I’ve been more or less lukewarm on thePixel Tablet, mostly because I think both the tablet itself and its dock cost too much at retail. But I have to give Google its due: the company’s said that part of the reason for the tablet’s bundled charging dock is that tablets tend to sit unused for days at a time, and that can lead to dead batteries when we do reach for them. The Pixel Tablet’s dock has indeed solved that problem for me entirely. Per a rumor from a couple of weeks ago, though, Apple may be gearing up to add MagSafe charging to its future iPad tablets — a move that could undermine the Pixel Tablet’s currently unique two-in-one form factor.
In December,MacRumors reportedthat the next iPad Pro, expected to be released this year, may launch with MagSafe charging in tow. Wireless charging for large tablets might not seem particularly useful on its face, but in the case of the iPad, I have to think MagSafe for iPad would lean heavily into charging docks — and Apple’s StandBy mode.
Apple’s StandBy mode on an iPhone.
Released as part of iOS 17,StandByworks much in the same way the Pixel Tablet’s Hub Mode does. When an iPhone running the latest version of iOS touches down on a MagSafe charging stand in landscape orientation, it activates StandBy, showing your choice of useful idle interfaces like clocks, calendars, and photo slideshows. (For OLED iPhone Pro models, these views stay active as long as the device is on the stand; for other iPhones, you have to tap to wake the screen.) StandBy also shows unique visualizations to go along with certain Siri queries — for example, if you ask about the weather, you’ll see the forecast rendered in large text meant to be viewed at a distance.
It’s not at all hard to imagine this experience making its way to a MagSafe-equipped iPad: plop the tablet down on a MagSafe charging stand, and you’ve got yourself a large smart display, similar in form factor to the Pixel Tablet. Even as an Android phone loyalist, I’vealways been pretty keen on iPads. Their build quality and app ecosystem run laps around the Pixel Tablet’s, and iPadOS’s integrations with MacOS are genuinely very helpful: with a Mac and an iPad, you may use the tablet as a wireless second display, drag and drop files between the two devices (very handy for signing documents), and more. It wouldn’t take much convincing to get me to jump ship from Google’s slate to a future iPad that offers similar charging and screensaver features.
None of this is likely to be an issue for Google in the immediate future; the MagSafe rumor specifically points to the iPad Pro, a super-premium option whose current iteration costs about twice as much as the Pixel Tablet. Even with MagSafe, not many people will be cross-shopping $1,000(ish) iPads with $500 Android tablets.
But I think it’s only a matter of time before tablets from all manufacturers will offer a Pixel Tablet-style experience. TheQi2 wireless charging standardmaking its way to Android devices features integrated magnets much like existing MagSafe chargers for iPhones do — and if Apple introduces a high-end tablet with magnetic wireless charging, it’s a safe bet that other manufacturers will be close behind.
The Pixel Tablet is hardly the first tablet to offer a charging dock; we’ve seen similar concepts from big-name companies like Amazon and Lenovo, too. But if the Pixel Tablet isn’t theonlydockable, two-in-one tablet, it’s certainly the most relevant right now, and it doesn’t have much of any competition in its class.
If and when the iPad Pro offers a similar experience, though, it’ll get harder to recommend the Pixel Tablet to platform-agnostic users like myself. That’s to say nothing of when companies like Samsung get in on the Qi2 action, or if, years down the line, MagSafe makes its way to less premium Apple tablets. AssumingGoogle wants to make a Pixel Tablet 2 someday, it’s going to need to come up with more than a magnetic dock to sell us all on it.
Google Pixel Tablet
The Pixel Tablet comes bundled with a magnetic charging dock that’s relatively unusual in today’s tablet landscape, but Apple’s MagSafe and the new Qi2 wireless charging standard could make Google’s gimmick a lot less unique.
