Apple’s rumoured plans of bilateral charging support may be disabled by software

tech2 News StaffSep 17, 2019 10:12:56 IST

When Apple launched the iPhone 11 series at its Special Event this month, support for bilateral charging was expected based on several reports. However, the feature wasn’t announced nor was there any mention of a future release.

Bilateral charging can enable reverse charging of devices. So, if the iPhones supported this feature, AirPods and the Apple Watch could be charged by placing them on the back of the iPhone.

Apple iPhone 11 Pro. Image: Apple

Although the feature wasn’t officially announced, it’s being reported that the devices could actually have the hardware to support it. As spotted by India Today, Apple tipster Sonny Dickson said in a tweet that the iPhone 11 and 11 Pro include hardware to support bilateral charging but it has been disabled in the software level.

Reliable sources are saying iPhone 11 and 11 Pro do include the hardware for bilateral charging, but that it is software disabled. Uncertain whether this was removed prior to final production run.

— Sonny Dickson (@SonnyDickson) September 13, 2019

Having reverse-charging at the hardware level means that Apple was indeed planning to implement the feature. However, for some reason, the company decided to not to. Dickson believes it was removed prior to a final production run. We'll know for sure when the teardown of the iPhones arrives.

Bloomberg’s Mark Gunman had also tweeted out that reverse charging on the rear had been discontinued. Maybe, Apple found some technical difficulties and decided to not deploy the unfinished feature. However, we see an official announcement in a later software update.