Samsung Galaxy smartphones have featured reverse charging — the ability to charge other devices from your phone — for several years now. But a new Apple rumor purports that the company may add that feature to the iPhone 17 Pro.
The rumor comes from tipster Setsuna Digital on the Chinese social media site Weibo.
Setsuna Digital writes (machine translated), "Apple has tested the 7.5W reverse charging function on the iPhone 17 Pro. I don’t know if it will be open for use this time." They go on to say that they regularly use the feature to charge headphones via their Samsung devices.
They specifically mention the iPhone 17 Pro, but it's not clear if it will come the base and or rumored iPhone 17 Air, though that handset might be too thin for this feature.
Samsung's Galaxy phones — including the Galaxy S25 Ultra — currently support reverse charging, though it can be hit or miss with its watches like the Samsung Galaxy Watch Ultra. Samsung first introduced reverse charging on the Galaxy S10 series way back in 2019
Can you reverse charge on an iPhone?
Reverse charging on iPhones has been a dream for some time. According to Phone Arena, the iPhone 12 had the components to reverse charge though the feature wasn't activated. It could be used to charge a MagSafe battery pack but that's it.
There were rumors in 2023 that Apple was going to bring reverse charging to the iPhone 14 Pro models though it was also suggested that the feature might come to the iPhone 15.
Allegedly, you could reverse charge your AirPod case on your iPhone 15. But testing it today, the feature doesn't work and Apple officially does not support reverse charging on any of its iPhones.
We'll know more in September when Apple is expected to release its next series of flagship phones.
