Apple’s iphone 14 The lineup offers a plethora of features, but does that also include wireless and reverse wireless charging? Like many other features in modern smartphones, wireless and reverse wireless charging are mostly limited to devices at the top-end of the spectrum. Implementing the feature is costly, so manufacturers mostly reserve it for their flagships and other premium devices, while shipping the more affordable handsets with only basic wired charging.
In 2023, most manufactures will offer wireless charging in their flagship devices, and Apple is no exception. All devices in the iPhone 14 series support wireless charging, although reverse wireless charging is conspicuous by its absence from the entire lineup. That means while all devices in the iPhone 14 series can be charged wirelessly, they cannot be used to charge other devices, like an Apple Watch or AirPods. However, there is a small exception to this rule.
Reverse Wireless Charging With The iPhone 14
Apple first introduced wireless charging in 2017, when it launched the iPhone 8, iPhone 8 Plus, and iPhone X with the new feature. Every iPhone since has come with wireless charging. Like all smartphone manufacturers, Apple supports the Qi wireless charging standard in its iPhones, but for the fastest and most efficient wireless charging, the company offers its MagSafe technology that uses a circular magnet at the back of the iPhone to snap the charger and other compatible devices. MagSafe accessories securely in place.
While MagSafe accessories typically cannot receive power from the iPhone, there is one exception to that rule – Apple’s official MagSafe battery pack. All modern iPhones, starting with the iPhone 12, can reverse wireless charge the MagSafe battery pack when plugged into a power socket via a Lightning cable. As part of this arrangement, the iPhone battery gets charged via the wired connection, while an attached MagSafe battery pack gets charged wirelessly by the iPhone. So while Apple has yet to officially introduce full reverse wireless charging support for its iPhone lineup, the devices do technically support the feature, albeit in a very limited way.
While charging a single accessory may not look like an important use case for reverse wireless charging, Apple provided a couple of examples of when this feature could come in handy. According to the company, this arrangement can be used when people need to connect their iPhone to another device while charging, like when using wired CarPlay or transferring photos to a Mac. Based on an FCC filing from 2020, the iPhone 12 is capable of supplying 5W of wireless power to the MagSafe battery pack, and there’s no indication that the speed has increased with the iphone 14,
Source: Apple 1, 2