Could the iPhone 15 finally charge your AirPods?

(Image credit: Apple)

published 8 February 2023

When the iPhone 14 launched, many people were surprised that it didn't have a feature that's already widespread in the best Android phones: reverse wireless charging that you could use to top up your AirPods or AirPods Pro 2 when you're out and about.

According to a new report, Apple had actually planned to add the feature to the iPhone 14 – but it ran out of time so the feature didn't make the final cut. But development has continued, and reverse wireless charging may appear in the iPhone 15 instead.

How long has Apple been planning reverse wireless charging?

Reverse wireless charging rumours started just before the iPhone 11, so this has been a long time coming. There was wireless charging hardware inside the iPhone 12, and the MagSafe battery pack could take advantage of it: if you hooked the battery pack up to your iPhone and then plugged your iPhone into the mains, the phone would top up the battery pack.

According to the report, Apple is working on advanced two-way wireless charging for the iPhone, including a MagSafe-style interface and advanced power management. Apple had hoped to finish development in time to put it into the iPhone 14 Pro and iPhone 14 Pro Max, but it simply wasn't ready in time.

Don't get your hopes up just yet, however. Apple is reportedly struggling with issues around heat management and charging speeds, and that means even the iPhone 15 might not get the feature – and it's possible that if reverse wireless charging proves too complex to deliver the way Apple would like to deliver it, Apple may decide not to implement reverse wireless charging at all.

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Writer, musician and broadcaster Carrie Marshall has been covering technology since 1998 and is particularly interested in how tech can help us live our best lives. Her CV is a who’s who of magazines, newspapers, websites and radio programmes ranging from T3, Techradar and MacFormat to the BBC, Sunday Post and People’s Friend. Carrie has written more than a dozen books, ghost-wrote two more and co-wrote seven more books and a Radio 2 documentary series; her memoir, Carrie Kills A Man, was shortlisted for the British Book Awards. When she’s not scribbling, Carrie is the singer in Glaswegian rock band Unquiet Mind (unquietmindmusic).