We’re just a few months out from the iPhone 13 launch and rumours are well and truly flying.
The latest word on the street is that Apple’s new iPhone will upgrade its MagSafe charging capabilities to allow for reverse wireless charging.
Reverse wireless charging could be coming to iPhone
A new rumour from Max Weinbach (via EverythingApplePro) claims that Apple’s new iPhone 13 will be implanted with a larger wireless charging coil.
This would increase the area from which the iPhone can charge wirelessly and also allow for a number of benefits such as increased wattage.
Weinbach speculates that this could be used to introduce reverse wireless charging to the iPhone. This means that the iPhone would be capable of juicing up the battery of other wireless charging capable devices – like AirPods or the Apple Watch – by placing them onto the back of the phone.
It’s a nifty solution if you’re on the go without a battery pack or any means of plugging in a charger.
Apple has reportedly been toying with reverse wireless charging for a while now.
An FCC filing from Apple late last year uncovered that the iPhone 12 may already have these wireless charging features hidden in its hardware – they just haven’t been activated.
To this date, there hasn’t been any more information on when or if these features will be brought to life in the iPhone 12, so it’s possible Apple is saving it for the 13.
A new feature for Apple, an old feature for Android
While reverse wireless charging comes as an exciting new feature for Apple users, Android owners have had access to it for some time.
All the Samsung phones from the S21 range as well as a number of other Samsung devices come with wireless power-sharing, aka reverse wireless charging.
Other handsets like the Huawei Mate 20 Pro, Google Pixel 5 and Oppo Find X3 also come with the feature, so it’s really time Apple caught up.
Apple only recently reintroduced MagSafe charging to its iPhone 12 series, which was very welcome. The logical next step would be to allow reverse charging capabilities with the iPhone 13 or even larger devices like the iPad Pro.