14 DAY TRIAL // Apple will launch the 2019 iPhone generation in September with a series of massive upgrades, including in the battery department.
Top-rated Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo says in a note to investors that the Cupertino-based tech giant would use larger batteries on all three models debuting this year.
Apple is expected to stick with the current three-model lineup that includes 5.8-inch, 6.1-inch, and 6.5-inch models, and while the design is likely to remain largely the same, more significant improvements are expected under the hood.
The analyst says the iPhone XS, which currently features a 2,658 mAh battery, would come with a battery whose capacity would be increased by up to 25 percent. The iPhone XS Max itself will also get a massive upgrade of around 15 percent, while the iPhone XR, which runs on a 2,942 mAh battery, would receive the smallest increase of just 5 percent.
Enter reverse wireless charging
The reason for these massive upgrades, at least on the iPhone XS and the XS Max, is that Apple wants to add bilateral wireless charging.
Already available on a series of Android devices, like the Samsung Galaxy S10, bilateral wireless charging allows a smartphone to wirelessly charge other devices using their own batteries. On the iPhone, Apple most likely wants to provide users with the added convenience of charging the Apple Watch or the AirPods on the go whenever a standard charger can’t be used.
By increasing the battery capacity, Apple tries to make sure that charging other devices wouldn’t substantially impact the experience with the iPhone.
Apple has already reached out to a series of partners for this iPhone upgrade, including Compeq, Unimicron, and TTM, all of which are supposed to help increase the battery capacity of the 2019 models and make bilateral wireless charging happen.
For now, however, we’re still far away from the moment the new iPhones would get the go-ahead, so anything could change overnight if something goes wrong.