All of the major smartphone vendors around the world do their best to one-up the competition year in and year out, and this year, it’s Apple’s turn to play catch-up. Samsung’s latest phones feature a variety of bleeding-edge upgrades, including 5G connectivity, quad rear cameras, Infinity-O displays, and two-way wireless charging. Apple will no doubt bring some of these features to its next flagship phones, but at least one has been all but confirmed by the always reliable Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo this week in an investor note.
According to Kuo, Apple will bring two-way wireless charging (also known as bilateral or reverse charging) to its next iPhone models, expected to launch this fall. Two-way wireless charging will let the iPhone charge other devices, such as the new AirPods wireless charging case, and all three models are said to have this ability.
Here’s a quote from Kuo’s investor note, in which he notes that Apple is a bit late to the party:
We expect the new 2H19 iPhone models will support two-way wireless charging. Though the iPhone is not the first high-end smartphone to be equipped with two-way wireless charging, this new function could make it more convenient for users to charge the new AirPods and create a better integrated user experience of the iPhone and AirPods.
Also in the note, via 9to5Mac, Kuo says that Apple will increase the size of the battery in each new iPhone model to accommodate two-way charging. The battery in the 5.8-inch iPhone (the follow-up to the iPhone XS) will apparently receive a 20-25% bump, while the 6.5-inch iPhone XS Max sequel will have a 10-15% increase in battery capacity. Meanwhile, the 6.1-inch model is said to only be receiving an 0.5% enlargement.
