iPhone 11 and iPhone 11 Pro might still have bilateral charging tech inside

iPhone 11 Product Red

What you need to know

Apple's new phones might have bilateral hardware inside.
Apple didn't announce bilateral charging despite rumors.
Possible that it is disabled via software.

Before the iPhone 11 and iPhone 11 Pro were announced we strongly expected them to feature bilateral charging. But the announcement came and went with no feature in sight. Now, Apple watcher Sonny Dickson says that he's heard talk that the technology is still there. You just can't use it.

Competitors like Huawei and Samsung have been offering bilateral charging – the ability to wirelessly charge another device using your phone – for months. But recently we heard that Apple couldn't make it work to its standards, so ditched it. At least for now. But according to Dickson the iPhone 11 and iPhone 11 Pro already have the hardware installed.

Reliable sources are saying iPhone 11 and 11 Pro do include the hardware for bilateral charging, but that it is software disabled. Uncertain whether this was removed prior to final production run.
— Sonny Dickson (@SonnyDickson) September 13, 2019

It's possible that the hardware will have been removed by the time people start receiving their orders next Friday, September 20th. Or some early models might have it but later ones don't. We'll know for sure once the team at iFixit rips one apart. Hopefully we won't have to wait too long before that happens.

The iPhone 11, iPhone 11 Pro, and iPhone 11 Pro all went up for pre-order today. If you haven't already ordered you might be in for a little wait, though.