Apple’s iPhone 12 has faster wireless charging than the iPhone 11, but it is still painfully slow compared to some Android phones. Will it improve on the iPhone 13?
Apple’s iPhone 12 is now official and available to buy. The iPhone 12 is the first iPhone to run 5G and the handsets in the range are the first to ship with OLED panels across the board.
Beyond OLED displays and 5G connectivity, however, the rest of the changes are fairly incremental. You have a new model, of course, in the form of the iPhone 12 Mini and an even larger iPhone 12 Pro Max model – it now has a 6.7in OLED display.
But it looks as if Apple users will have to wait until the release of the iPhone 13 for truly fast charging speeds.
But for big changes, changes that will raise eyebrows, the iPhone 12 is a faulty conservative update from Apple. And that’s not surprising; Apple is incredibly calculated and slow in how it updates its iPhone. Big features and changes often take years to appear. Apple does not like messing with its winning formula.
And that’s fine. But there is one area that Apple will almost certainly improve aboard the iPhone 13. I’m talking, of course, about wireless charging – and more specifically, wireless charging speeds.
And this is looking increasingly likely, if the latest iPhone 13 leaks are to be believed.
iPhone 12 Wireless Charging Speeds: Room For Improvement
Currently, the iPhone 12 will support wireless charging speeds of up to 15W. But you HAVE to use Apple-sanctioned wireless chargers, and right now these are pretty thin on the ground. Also: 15W is painfully slow too.
Plenty of Android phones now support 30W and even 65W wireless charging. VIVO and RealMe are working on 100W wireless charging too; and the first phones to top this speed should be with us later this year.
Apple has designs on getting rid of the iPhone’s charging port on either the iPhone 13 or 2022’s iPhone 14. If this rumor turns out to be true, and we suspect it will, Apple will need to seriously bolster its wireless charging capabilities for either the iPhone 13 or the iPhone 14.
15W wireless charging barely cut the mustard in 2018, and that’s with the option to use a wired charging. Take away that option and force people to wirelessly charge with a paltry 15W and you’re going to anger A LOT of people.
The fact that Apple is planning on doing away with the charging port on one of its future iPhone releases indicates that work is most likely underway on faster wireless charging for iPhone – and iPad and Apple Watch too.
A portless iPhone would not work properly without at least 30-60W wireless charging, especially if the iPhone 12’s battery issues are anything to go by (it performs worse than the iPhone 11 by almost four hours).
Apple & Wireless Charging Compatibility
When it comes to using third-party accessories with iPhone, things are always tricky. Apple has locked down its platform to such an extent that, even if it did support 60W wireless charging, you wouldn’t just be able to go out and buy a 60W wireless charging mat.
You’d HAVE to buy one either sanctioned by Apple or one made by Apple – and we all know how much that would cost ($200, easily).
Here’s what I think will happen. Apple will announce a portless iPhone in eater 2021 or 2022. Alongside this phone, it will also announce a brand new wireless charging technology with either 60W or 100W charging. It will then lock the iPhone’s wireless charging capabilities to this proprietary technology.
Apple’s proprietary wireless charger for the portless iPhone will not be bundled with the phone, just like earbuds and a charging cable were removed on ALL iPhone 12 models, and users will be forced to buy the accessory for a huge fee – likely $150 to $200.
This is my prediction. It might not happen. But given Apple’s pattern of behavior in recent years, it’s certainly well within the realms of possibility. This is why it got rid of the headphone jack. It wasn’t to “save space”, it was done to sell a metric ton of AirPods.
Now apply this same strategy to cables and you’re looking at Apple’s next big cash cow: fast wireless charging accessories that you HAVE to buy via Apple and nowhere else…
Also, be sure to check out what reverse wireless charging is and which phones have it!