BERLIN – With iPhones finally supporting 25W wireless charging, a wave of 25W magnetic power banks has hit the market. However, they also bring on one of wireless charging’s oldest problems: heat. Sustained 25W power transfer makes a power bank uncomfortably hot.
At IFA 2026, major iPhone accessory makers unveiled an unlikely solution: power banks with built-in cooling systems designed to tame the heat.
If you got or will soon get an iPhone 16e, way to go! The new iPhone 16e has plenty to recommend it, even if lacks MagSafe and it’s not as affordable, at $599, as the discontinued SE model it replaces. iPhone 16e boasts more functionality and costs more, so you have even more reason to get a nice case for it.
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Imagine putting your iPad onto a stand and it immediately begins charging, without needing to plug it in. That’s possible with the Lululook 360 Rotating Foldable Magnetic iPad Charging Stand.
It’s very flexible, doesn’t take up the tablet’s USB-C port, and works with a variety iPad Pro and iPad Air models, including the ones released in 2024.
I love this accessory. Absolutely love it. Here’s why.
With a wireless charging stand, you can juice up your iPhone while simultaneously using it as a second screen. That makes a wireless charger the ultimate multitasking accessory. And you can score two Qi-compatible charging stands from Polaroid now for one low price — $19.99.
With the right charger, your iPhone 12 or 13 can top up pretty fast. But can it charge to 50% capacity in 15 minutes, wirelessly? Nope. But that’s what former Huawei sub-brand Honor promised Monday at MWC 2022 with its latest flagship handset, the Honor Magic 4 Pro.
Fast charging with iPhone runs about half the speed Honor claims. And though we doubt many folks would ditch their iPhones for the Honor Magic Pro 4, who knows if they’ll be able to get one, anyway. The company hasn’t specified a release date or where the phones will sell.
Despite Apple’s lengthy and ongoing efforts to deliver much-improved charging technologies, archrival Samsung has beaten Cupertino in the race for truly wireless charging. Except you won’t find it in a smartphone … yet.
The South Korean company’s next-generation TV remote — announced this week ahead of CES 2022 — cleverly uses radio waves emitted from your Wi-Fi router to stay topped up so you don’t have to worry about charging it.
You shouldn’t need to buy a separate charger for each of your devices. Instead of fighting to keep cords untangled and constantly juggling devices between a limited number of chargers, take a look at the Fast Charge 4-in-1 Wireless Charging Hub. This charging hub can power four devices at once, and it’s on sale for $59.99 (regularly $99).
Apple is planning some exciting new additions for its iPad line. According to Bloomberg, Apple plans to bring wireless charging to the iPad Pro, along with the first iPad mini redesign in six years.
The wireless charging iPad will supposedly debut in 2022. The redesigned iPad mini — complete with narrower bezels and possible removed Home button — will meanwhile arrive later this year.
Don’t expect the 2021 iPhone to be able to charge AirPods or Apple Watch. A reliable tipster says Apple doesn’t intend to build reverse wireless charging into future handsets. Not anytime soon, at least.
There’s a new wireless charging option for multi-device households. The Mophie 4-in-1 Wireless Charging Mat can handle multiple iPhones and AirPods cases in a single unit.
And an USB-A port with Apple Watch adapter raises the total to five.
More devices means more trouble keeping everything charged. These four Mac and iPhone accessories will give you all the power you need, no matter your situation (assuming you’re not a supervillain hell-bent on world destruction).
Qi wireless charging makes topping off an iPhone as easy as setting it down on the table. It’s quick and simple, but there are ways to get better use out of your phone while it charges. With this combination case and stand, you can declutter your desk at the same time.
A new iMac concept design offers good suggestions for where Apple should be taking this Mac desktop. But also included is a small-but-genius improvement: make the base of the iMac an iPhone charger.
The new iPhone 12 chassis could include a mysterious circular array of 36 magnets inside its chassis, possibly to help with wireless charging, suggest new images posted to Weibo and shared by the EverythingApplePro Twitter account.
Apple has yet to release a native wireless charger for iPhone. Its most notable move in this direction was the AirPower wireless charging mat, which was announced by Apple and then canceled. Rumors since then suggest that Apple might be continuing work on the project.
Apple will release a single-device wireless charging pad in addition to the larger, multi-device mat rumored to be much like the doomed AirPower, according to an unconfirmed report Sunday.
The latest rumors come a year after Apple canceled the AirPower wireless charger the company announced in 2017 without ever releasing it.
Apple is working on a totally re-designed, wireless charging pad with the ability to route power to exact areas to prevent overheating, according to Front Page Tech analyst Jon Prosser.
Prosser reported Friday that engineers on Apple’s Sharing and Proximity team and working from home during the COVID-19 pandemic recently received prototype units of something called “C68”. AirPower isn’t mentioned by name, but descriptions and details appear to match Apple’s failed charging mat.
Huawei added cutting-edge features to its iPad Pro rival. A MatePad Pro update includes 5G built-in cellular-wireless networking. And it offers two-way wireless charging, so the tablet can send power to another device.
These features were added to a device clearly made to resemble Apple’s top-tier iPad.
The Scoshe BaseLynx modular charging system just became an Apple Store exclusive. This can wirelessly power an iPhone and an Apple Watch, and it has slots to hold several iPads or iPhones while they charge.
It not the only such multi-device charger that Apple offers to customers in the wake of its botched attempt to create its own AirPower charger.
PopSockets was a wildly successful brand that was in danger of losing its grip.
Wireless charging is becoming a standard feature in smartphones and the stick-on PopGrip it created for reducing drops suddenly looked like an unintended battery barrier.
But the company finally figured out a way forward in the emerging wireless world with a round wireless charging pad with a hole in the middle.
The AirPods Pro come in a Qi-enabled wireless charging case, which means you can just drop it onto a charging mat, grab them a while later, and everything is topped up and ready to go. But the LED indicator on the case blinks off soon after you start charging. What’s up? How do you find out if your AirPods are full yet?
There are wall-to-wall alternatives on the market for what was supposed to be AirPower. One actually mounts to the wall and looks like a piece of art while it charges multiple devices.
The MagEZ Bar from Pitaka charges two phones simultaneously. It holds them in place with strong magnets that easily align the phones or AirPods with the charging coils. To the right of the charging coils, a hidden magnetic array provides a space for keys or AirPods.
Buried in the iPhone 11 Pro Max are hardware quirks that iFixit suggests might be for reverse wireless charging, a feature reportedly planned and then dropped from this model.
Watch a video of techs from this repair company carefully disassembling Apple’s new flagship smartphone:
One feature we expected but didn’t get from the iPhone 11 lineup is two-way wireless charging. But Apple could surprise us with it later.
A new rumor claims the 2019 iPhones come with the necessary hardware, but Apple disabled the functionality in iOS. If true, Apple could activate the feature for iPhone 11 owners at a later date.
The Apple logo on the back of this year’s iPhone 11 lineup will shift to make way for a brand new feature, according to a new report.
The logo won’t disappear, but it will be perfectly centered for the first time in the iPhone’s history. The change will allow for a huge upgrade in wireless charging functionality.
The Zens Liberty is designed to overcome one of wireless charging’s hassles: it won’t be necessary to carefully arrange the handset on this pad thanks to its 16 charging coils.
This was one of the promises of Apple’s AirPower, but packing too many coiled into a small pad reportedly caused such such problems with excess heat that this product was eventually cancelled.