Phone rumors don't always pan out the way we'd hoped, and the iPhone 17 Pro is no exception. Despite multiple rumors that the phone would offer reverse wireless charging, Apple's flagship doesn't include it after all. And Google, of all people, may have explained why Apple has stayed well away from the feature.
The Google Pixel 10 launched last month, and with it came word that the phone had removed reverse wireless charging — or Battery Share, as Google calls it. According to the company, this change came about because of Qi2 wireless charging. Or, more importantly, the magnetic ring that comes with it.
Qi2 is based on Apple's MagSafe, which has been around since the iPhone 12. The magnets are one of the main benefits, and not just because you can use them to snap accessories to the back of your phone. Having the ring in place means perfect alignment of the wireless charging coils, which improves efficiency and charging speed, all while minimizing heat build-up.
Those are all good things o have, and everything else is just a bonus. But unfortunately, those magnets apparently interfere with the addition of reverse wireless charging.
What's going on with reverse wireless charging?
Google claimed that the magnets "present a physical limitation for reverse wireless charging" but didn't specify what this limitation might be. It's been speculated that this was a space issue, since the magnets took up space meant for Battery Share components.
If this is the case, then it would explain why Apple has avoided reverse wireless charging for so long. The company felt MagSafe was more important than being able to (slowly) recharge other devices wirelessly.
Of course, it's always possible that the magnets themselves interfere with reverse wireless charging itself, and mean it wouldn't work as well — or even at all. We know that internal magnets can be a problem, since Samsung admitted it left out the Qi2 magnetic ring because it interfered with the digitizer layer in the display. Without that layer, the S Pen stylus wouldn't work.
9to5Mac speculates that reverse wireless charging wouldn't work without some kind of MagSafe-compatible device. I have my doubts about that assessment, since MagSafe and Qi are both backwards compatible. So long as the charging coils can align correctly, nothing is stopping a wireless charging connection from initiating.
We had hoped that Apple had overcome whatever limitations were in place, whether they were physical or technical. But apparently that isn't the case, assuming Apple ever actually intended to try and bring reverse wireless charging to iPhones in the first place.
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