Last minute iPhone rumor: No reverse wireless charging

When we’re mere hours away from an iPhone event, rumors stop making sense, because it’s easier to just wait and see what Apple has in stock. 

But a last-minute rumor from reliable analyst Ming-Chi Kuo is notable for two reasons. First, Kuo is rarely wrong, and second, he’s actually debunking previous rumors. 

According to a Kuo investor note, seen by MacRumors, the new iPhones will not have reverse wireless charging capabilities, as the efficiency wasn’t good enough for Apple’s standards. 

Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman said the same thing, citing “some issues” as the cause for Apple giving up on the feature. 

Reverse wireless charging, as seen on phones by Huawei and Samsung, allows users to not only charge the phone wirelessly, but to charge other wireless-charging gadgets by placing them on the back of the phone. It’s not a terribly useful feature but it could come handy when your AirPods are about to die and you just need a little bit of juice to keep them going. 

If true, this would be the second time Apple had big plans for wireless charging and gave up at the last moment. Earlier this year, Apple canceled its AirPower wireless charger for, you guessed it, failing to live up to the company’s standards. 

Kuo also claims that only the 5.8-inch and the 6.5-inch OLED models will come with a fast, 18W charger in the box, whereas the 6.1-inch LCD iPhone will come with a regular 5W power adapter. Furthermore, new iPhones won’t support Apple Pencil as once rumored, and they’ll all have Apple’s Lightning connector instead of a (rumored) USB-C port. 

Kuo’s other predictions fall in line with what we’ve already heard: triple cameras on the 5.8-inch and 6.5-inch models, largely unchanged design on the phones’ front side, new colors (at least for some models), and ultra-wideband support for better indoor navigation. 

Apple’s event starts at 10 a.m. PT/1 p.m. ET. Here’s how to watch it live.