The iPhone 12 May Have A Secret Reverse Wireless Charging Feature

The iPhone 12 has a secret feature allowing for reverse wireless charging, according to newly unveiled FCC filings that just went public.

The feature could be used to charge future AirPods or the long-rumored “AirTags” trackers.

It seems that the recently launched Apple iPhone 12 lineup has more into it than Apple told us. FCC filings that went public recently show that the phone “supports a built-in inductive charging transmitter and receiver.”

“In addition to being able to be charged by a desktop WPT [wireless power transfer] charger (puck), 2020 iPhone models … also support WPT charging function at 360 kHz to charge accessories,” one of the documents reads. It lists a series of FCC IDs of iPhones with the new feature, which include the iPhone 12 mini (BCG-E3539A), iPhone 12 (BCG-E3542A), iPhone 12 Pro (BCG-E3545A), and iPhone 12 Pro Max (BCG-E3548A). The maximum reverse wireless charging speed is listed as 5W, if we’re reading the documents correctly.

The news was first broken by Mark Gurman on Twitter.

If this FCC filing is any indication, the iPhone 12 may have a hidden reverse charging feature. Perhaps MagSafe on the new AirPods? https://t.co/QhFQtOgoRB https://t.co/OAKzzb5U3B pic.twitter.com/pqAVcjLCyN
— Mark Gurman (@markgurman) October 28, 2020

Gurnam explains how the iPhone 12 series supports Apple’s new MagSafe standard, which uses magnets inside the phones to help properly align compatible accessories. He thinks the feature could be used in the future to reverse charge wirelessly accessories, like a future version of the Airpods or the long-rumored Apple AirTags trackers.