Google explains why the Nexus 5X and Nexus 6P don’t have Qi wireless charging

Google’s Nexus team hosted a Reddit AMA today to answer questions about its newly unveiled Nexus 5X and Nexus 6P, the first Android 6.0 Marshmallow devices. As is typical with these public forums, there was a lot of bantering and joking, though some interesting questions did get answered.

One of the biggest complaints about Nexus 5X and Nexus 6P is that they don’t support the Qi wireless charging standard, despite the fact that their predecessors did. Google apparently believes that the tradeoff of thickness was not worth it, and that USB Type-C solves a lot of the problems because it is fast and reversible:

We added Qi wireless charging starting with N4 because plugging in USB micro B was such a hassle! (Which way is up!?) With this year’s Nexii, we support USB Type-C which has a reversible connector so there’s no more guessing. AND it charges incredibly swiftly: 1% to 100% in 97 mins on the 6P for example (the first ~45 mins of charging is especially fast). Meanwhile, wireless charging adds z (thickness). So, ease of plugging in + fast charging + optimizing for thinness made us double down on Type-C instead of wireless!

Of course, wireless charging will always be more convenient than plugging in a cable. More important is of course battery life, but we’ll hold that judgment until we’ve tried the devices for a bit longer.

Other answers in the AMA were less interesting. The Android devices support USB 2.0 (not USB 3.1), feature software-accelerated encryption (as opposed to hardware), internal storage is eMMC 5.0 (not UFS 2.0), and they both have the same camera (12.3MP with 1.55um pixels). Also, the X stands for “the core of the Nexus brand” while the P is for premium.

Still, this answer responding to the question as to why the Nexus 5X starts at 16GB amused us:

The idea here was to strike a balance between premium features/experiences and affordability.
EDIT: HL> It’s a conspiracy! MOVE TO THE CLOUD!

We’ll update you if anything else catches our eyes.