iOS 17.2 will give older iPhones a major charging boost

When Apple announced the iPhone 15 range in September it confirmed support for the Qi2 wireless charging standard.

Now it has emerged iOS 17.2 will bring support for the new magnetic charging standard all the way back to the iPhone 13 and iPhone 14 models. Hooray!

The news comes via the release notes for the iOS 17.2 release candidate (via 9to5Mac), which also signifies the main release should come next week. The notes featured a brief reference to the update, simply stating: “Qi2 charger support for all iPhone 13 models and iPhone 14 models.”

The Qi2 standard adds support for magnetic charging and Apple worked directly with the Wireless Power Consortium on the tech. Indeed, the WPC says Apple “provided the basis for the new Qi2 standard building on its MagSafe technology.”

What will this mean for iPhone 13 and iPhone 14 users? Well, if they’re already using MagSafe chargers that can muster speeds of 15W, it won’t mean too much. However, it does mean those same speeds of 15W will be available via universal Qi2-based chargers that they might find elsewhere.

For example, iPhone 13 and iPhone 14 users will be able to make use of Android users’ Qi2 chargers because of the interoperability of the tech. By the same token, the tech is faster than standard Qi chargers too, which iPhone users might find out in the wild.

Currently, iPhones (including the iPhone 15 range) are only able to charge at a maximum of 7.5W when using first-generation Qi chargers, so this will make a big difference as Qi2 becomes more abundant. It also gives iPhone users more choice when it comes to picking chargers on the open market.

With the release candidate now out in the wild, we expect Apple to launch iOS 17.2 early next week. The RC is the version Apple intends to release to the public and, barring the discovery of any big bugs or security flaws, this will be the software that hits iPhones in the coming days.

You can check out some of the biggest expected iOS 17.2 features here.