Apple’s next iPhone will ship with reverse wireless charging, allowing users to flick a switch and wirelessly charge other Qi-enabled devices such as the new AirPods right on the back of their phone. The news comes from a report out of Macotakara (via 9to5Mac) which corroborates Ming-Chi Kuo’s prediction earlier this year.
The feature would come after Samsung implemented it into the new Galaxy S10. The big headlining use case seems to be an emergency top-up if you or a friend are running low on juice with one of your gadgets. The feature could also be useful for devices will smaller batteries like AirPods or an Apple Watch. Right now, reverse wireless charging charges devices extremely slowly at just about 4.5W, so it’ll take a long time to juice up something with a larger cell. Still, the feature can prove useful in a pinch, and iPhone owners may appreciate the inclusion if it, in fact, ships.
In the same report, Macotakara notes Apple may also include an 18W USB-C charging brick with the next iPhone, the same one found with the 2018 iPad Pro. The phone would still use a Lightning port, but the other end of the supplied cable would provide a male USB-C connector and give you a much faster charge over the company’s existing 5W brick. We’ve been hearing for years how Apple will eventually include a faster charger in the box with a future iPhone, so take this rumor with a grain of salt.
We’re still a good six months away from the new iPhones launching so anything could happen in the meantime. You’ll wanna stay tuned for any future developments.
