The iPhone 17 Pro might be able to wirelessly charge your AirPods

2 hours ago 5

The iPhone 16 Pro (Image credit: Future / Lance Ulanoff)

The iPhone 17 Pro and Pro Max could support reverse wireless charging
This would let you use them to wirelessly charge the likes of your AirPods or Apple Watch
However, there are questions over whether Apple would be able to achieve this while still offering MagSafe

The iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17 Pro Max might have a feature that Android phones have offered for years, as a leaker claims they could support reverse wireless charging.

This tip comes from Fixed Focus Digital – a source with a reasonable track record – via BGR, and if it pans out, then you’d be able to place your AirPods or Apple Watch on the back of your iPhone and use it as a wireless charging mat, draining the iPhone’s battery a little to charge these smaller devices.

This feature would also likely work with other iPhones, though it would almost certainly take a long time to juice one up, and significantly drain the iPhone 17 Pro you’re using as a charger in the process. Still, based on other implementations of reverse wireless charging, you'd probably be able to charge up non-Apple devices, too.

Reverse wireless charging is arguably a niche feature, but it’s one that many high-profile Android handsets – such as the Samsung Galaxy S25 series – offer already.

The MagSafe problem

Interestingly, though, the Google Pixel 10 series has actually ditched this feature in favor of MagSafe-like magnetic wireless charging. The company claimed the design of the magnets meant it wasn’t possible to offer both magnetic wireless charging and reverse wireless charging, so it will be interesting to see whether Apple can achieve both on the iPhone 17 Pro series.

The fact that Google couldn’t manage this makes us a little skeptical of this rumor, but this isn’t the first time we’ve heard of reverse wireless charging possibly coming to the iPhone 17 Pro, with a previous leak suggesting it could offer a charging power of 7.5W – which wouldn’t charge a phone up very fast, but is still almost double what some Android phones can manage.

However, both of these leaks simply say that Apple has tested reverse wireless charging on the iPhone 17 Pro series, so even if they’re accurate, it’s possible Apple will choose not to equip the phones with this feature.

We should find out soon, though, as the iPhone 17 series is expected to be unveiled in September, with one source pointing to September 9.

James is a freelance phones, tablets and wearables writer and sub-editor at TechRadar. He has a love for everything ‘smart’, from watches to lights, and can often be found arguing with AI assistants or drowning in the latest apps. James also contributes to 3G.co.uk, 4G.co.uk and 5G.co.uk and has written for T3, Digital Camera World, Clarity Media and others, with work on the web, in print and on TV.

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