With more of its products supporting wireless charging and lacking the 3.5mm headphone jack, Apple is aggressively moving towards a completely wireless future. It all started in 2017 when the Cupertino-based tech giant launched the iPhone 7 Plus without a headphone jack and a year later, the iPhone 8 Series with QI wireless charging support.
In this article, we’ll walk you through all Apple devices that can be charged wirelessly. If, for you, wirelessly charging is a big deal, or it is something you look out for before you buy anything branded with a bitten Apple, please check out the devices that fit right into your major requirement — wireless charging.
Related Article: Does Fast Wireless Charging Kill Your Phone Battery Faster?
Apple Watch
All Apple smartwatches —Apple Watch (1st generation), Apple Watch Series 1, Apple Watch Series 2, Apple Watch Series 3, Apple Watch Series 4, and Apple Watch Series 5 — support wireless charging.
Unlike iPhones, the Apple Watch doesn’t use lightning or USB cable, instead, it makes use of the QI charging technology. Also, the Apple Watch will not charge on just any QI charger. This is because Apple found a way to design the QI charging standard to make sure it only charges on the wireless charging pad specifically made for it.
Related Article: Apple Watch Series 4 can perform an ECG test
iPhones
The iPhone 8, iPhone 8 Plus, and iPhone X were the first set of iPhones to support wireless charging, and every iPhone that has been released since then supports wireless charging. They include; iPhone 8 (2017), iPhone 8 Plus (2017), iPhone X (2017), iPhone XR (2018), iPhone XS (2018), iPhone XS Max (2018), iPhone 11 (2019), iPhone 11 Pro (2019), and iPhone 11 Pro Max (2019).
You should note that your iPhone will not charge wirelessly if there is a lightning or USB cable connected to it.
AirPods
When Apple released its Airpod 2 last year, it launched with a stand-alone wireless charging case as well. Interestingly, the case is backward-compatible i.e. it also charges the first-generation AirPod.
This stand-alone wireless charger is strictly for charging as it comes without AirPods and doesn’t include the features you’ll find on the charging case of the AirPod 2 or AirPod Pro.
Why the iPad doesn’t support wireless charging
It doesn’t look like Apple is considering shipping wireless charging to its tablet line anytime soon. This is because when Apple was in the process of making its now-canceled Charging Mat (AirPower), it didn’t make space for the iPads, just the iPhone, Apple Watch, and AirPod case. Additionally, wireless charging doesn’t look feasible for tablets.
Another reason is that the iPad is quite large, and trying to create space for it on the charging mat would mean increasing the size of the charging mat. Additionally the iPad has a metal back and we know that wireless charging doesn’t work with metallic materials.
However, on the iPad Pro, you can wirelessly charge the Apple Pencil 2.
Conclusion
Obviously, going forward, more devices from Apple will support wireless charging — which is a cool thing. Which of these devices do you use? How has the wireless charging experience on these devices been?
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