- Apple is apparently testing reverse wireless charging on its iPhones
- The feature could come to the iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17 Pro
- Four new flagship models are expected to make their debut in September
By our reckoning we’re about seven months away from the launch of the iPhone 17 phones, and the latest from the rumor mill suggests that the Pro and Pro Max models could get a very useful upgrade: reverse wireless charging.
This comes from well-known tipster Instant Digital (via MacRumors), but the emphasis is on “tested” – at the moment it’s not clear if the charging feature, reportedly supporting a rate up to 7.5W, will make the cut or not.
If you’re not familiar with reverse wireless charging, it’s something you can find on various other handsets, including the best Samsung phones. It essentially turns the back of a handset into a wireless charging pad.
Should Apple introduce the feature in the iPhone 17 Pro and Pro Max, you might be able to drop your AirPods on the back of one of these handsets to wirelessly charge them, for example – but this is still just speculation at this point.
Shaping up for September
We’re starting to hear more and more leaks and rumors around the iPhone 17 handsets, with several of them predicting a pretty major redesign for the camera around the back of the phones – a redesign that doesn’t look entirely convincing.
There’s also been some debate over whether the Dynamic Island on the iPhone 17 will shrink down from the iPhone 16 size, or stay the same. A rumor that seems a little more certain is that all four models will get 120Hz screens and always-on display support.
It now looks highly probable that the iPhone 16 Plus will be replaced by the iPhone 17 Air (though that name isn’t definite yet) – a slim, lightweight smartphone that follows what Samsung is doing with the Samsung Galaxy S25 Edge.
In the meantime we’re still picking over the details of the newest iPhone, the iPhone 16e. While the handset comes with plenty of the familiar Apple Intelligence features we’ve seen before, it is somewhat lacking in the photography department.
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