One of the first granted patents of 2021 was covered in our report titled "Apple has been Granted a Pair of 2-Way Charging Patents for a Future MacBook Pro that could Recharge iDevices and more," as illustrated in our cover graphic.. Today the US Patent & Trademark Office published a patent application from Apple that relates to this very technology in a patent application titled "Wireless power transfer system and devices."

Apple's patent covers a wireless power system that has a wireless power transmitting device (which may also be referred to in some instances as a wireless power transmitter or an inductive power transmitter) that transmits power wirelessly to a wireless power receiving device (which may also be referred to in some instances as a wireless power receiver or an inductive power receiver). The wireless power transmitting device is a device such as a wireless charging mat, wireless charging puck, wireless charging stand, wireless charging table, or other wireless power transmitting equipment.

However, the technology could also be built into a device like a MacBook. Apple specifically states:

The wireless power transmitting device may be a stand-alone device or built into other electronic devices such as a laptop or tablet computer, cellular telephone or another electronic device.

The wireless power transmitting device has one or more coils that are used in transmitting wireless power to one or more wireless power receiving coils in the wireless power receiving device.

The wireless power receiving device is a device such as a cellular telephone, watch, media player, tablet computer, pair of earbuds, remote control, laptop computer, electronic pencil or stylus, other portable electronic device, or other wireless power receiving equipment.

Apple's patent FIG. 1 below is a schematic diagram of an illustrative wireless power system; FIG. 2 is a flow chart of a wireless power transfer process which may be used by the wireless power transfer system of FIG. 1.

Apple's AirPods could eventually be designed so that they're recharged sitting on the back of an iPhone 12. This was talked about in a Brian Tong video report as presented below. The video is cued to begin when Tong talks about an FCC filing by Apple hinting about reverse or 2-way charging as supported by today's revealed patent filing.

You could learn more about Apple's patent application number 20210013749 here. Considering that this is a patent application, the timing of such a product to market is unknown at this time.