I have spent an inordinate amount of money at Ikea since I moved into my house; you can easily find at least two Ikea products in every single room. But recently, the thing I've been liking the most about the Swedish retailer is its growing range of extremely affordable electronics. It seems too good to be true, but so far I haven't been let down by them.
Needless to say, I've been quite eager to try out Ikea's Västmärke Qi2 wireless charging stand which debuted last December. Clearly other people have had the same idea, because I've had to wait months for the charger to come back in stock here in the U.K. I'm not even exaggerating either: Not only have I been waiting for this to come back in stock since May, Ikea already seems to have run out.
Considering the Västmärke stand is just £9 here in the U.K. (roughly $12), it's no surprise that people would want to get their hands on it, even if they did have to spend a little extra for one of Ikea's 30W charging bricks. If there's a cheaper Qi2 charger out there, I haven't come across it.
Sadly Ikea U.S. isn't quite so generous in the price, and American buyers will need to pay $30 for a Västmärke stand of their own — $5 more than the original launch price. That's still a cheap price for a Qi2 stand, but it's on a par with other budget chargers on sale from big names like Belkin and Anker.
What is the Västmärke wireless charging stand?
Västmärke is cheap for a reason, and that reason is that it's primarily made out of cork and plastic. There are no premium materials here, like metal or rubber.
Personally, I think it looks like a cheap product, though I admit that I may be letting the fact I hate touching cork skew my opinion a little bit. I really can't stand the stuff, but I can't fault Ikea for using a material that is cheap, sustainable and biodegradable.
There's no charging brick in the box, but the Västmärke does come with its own 47-inch (120cm) USB-C cable. The cable is built into the stand, though, so if it breaks you can't just replace it with a new one.
Looks and materials only form part of the equation, though. What sets the Västmärke stand apart from most cheap wireless chargers is that it's fully Qi2 certified. For those who don't know, Qi2 wireless charging is faster than the original Qi1 standard, and offers more advanced charging protocols in the process. This includes adaptive charging speed that lets your phone dictate how much power comes in, rather than being forced to accept a fixed flow of electricity.
Crucially, though, this is a magnetic Qi2 charger. That means any Qi2 capable phones, including most iPhones and the Google Pixel 11 series, will connect to the charger using a built-in ring of magnets. Other phones, such as Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra, can also take advantage of this with special Qi2-compatible cases. The use of magnets ensures that wireless charging coils are perfectly aligned, which means better overall efficiency — leading to faster charging and less heat.
The downside is that the Västmärke stand is limited to 15W charging speeds. That's fine for some phones, but there are phones like iPhone 18 Pro and Google Pixel 11 that support up to 25W Qi2 wireless charging. So bear in mind that such phones will not be wireless charging as fast as they physically can.
What's it like using Västmärke?
Cork aversion aside, I can't say I've seen a wireless charging stand that looks aesthetically pleasing on its own. So credit where it's due, Ikea's created something that doesn't look industrial and clunky. Even if the design does feel a little bit cheap.
From a performance perspective, I can't fault Västmärke in any way. The magnet snapped onto the back of my Pixel 11 Pro XL and iPhone 17 Pro Max as advertised, and immediately kicked off the wireless charging session right away. That includes both phones' special charging display modes, better known as "Standby" on iOS and the simple "Screen saver" on Android.
The magnetic connection is nice and strong, which makes it easy to pick up the phone without disconnecting the stand. That can be good and bad, depending on your point of view, and like most magnetic chargers a little bit of effort is needed to ensure your phone is disconnected when you need it to be. The rubber base on the bottom of the Västmärke ensures there is enough friction to do that pretty seamlessly, though.
There's not much more I can say about the charging process itself. The Västmärke recharged both of my phones without issue, and according to my USB-C power meter it was hitting the speeds you'd expect from a 15W wireless charger.
Surprisingly it did register power levels in excess of 15W at times. I'm not sure why, but when recharging my Pixel 11 Pro from zero percent, the power rose to just over 18W at certain points. That's no big deal for the phone, it can handle up to 25W wireless charging, but it was weird to see considering the Västmärke is a 15W charger.
I can only assume that the stand was charging at a full 15W, with the rest of the energy being wasted somewhere along the way. Wireless charging is notorious for producing heat, after all, and the Västmärke is no exception to that. So maybe avoid using it during heat waves, unless you have a very large fan nearby.
Bottom line
I'd be pretty impressed with the Västmärke wireless charging stand, even if I'd paid the full $30 for it. But for £9/$12? That's an absolute no-brainer, and none of my criticisms matter. I may not be a fan of the overall design, but I can't really be mad that a cheap stand looks cheap. Certainly not when its wireless charging capabilities rival those of other, pricier Qi2 chargers I've used.
The Västmärke charging stand feels like it's too good to be true. These are prices that you'd normally expect from no-brand wireless chargers that max out at 10W if you're lucky. Instead, this is an Ikea product, and after so many years of offering cheap chargers and other electronics, I feel as though it's more than earned my trust.
If you're in the market for a wireless charger, and your nearest Ikea has the Västmärke in stock, I definitely recommend picking one up. Especially if you're in the U.K., because it probably won't be there for long.
Follow Tom's Guide on Google News and add us as a preferred source to get our up-to-date news, analysis, and reviews in your feeds.
More from Tom's Guide
