This reverse charging cable for AirPods Pro is useful when buds and case battery runs out

Wireless earphones have come a long way in terms of battery life while maintaining a compact form factor. A good pair of buds can last almost six to seven hours on average with ANC on. The charging case provides another two to three charge cycles before you need to plug in your case for a refill. Under normal circumstances, that should be enough for a day or even a day and a half, if you keep the ANC and transparency mode turned off for the duration.

If you are a power user always on the go, chances are you might drain out all the battery in your charging case. The solution in that scenario is to keep a wired pair handy, or is it? This concept believes otherwise, and the idea seems novel, just like the Streamline hybrid earbuds that can be used both in wireless and wired modes. Called the reverse charging earphones, these charge your buds when the juice runs out.

Designer: Jinkyo Han

Imagined for the Apple AirPods Pro, the concept proposes a reverse charging cable that connects to the phone and then charges the buds when they are low on battery power. Since each bud carries a battery capacity of 50 mAh each, every recharge cycle will only drain 100 mAh of the phone’s battery power, which is a bargain as current generation smartphones have a battery capacity of 5,000 mAh. It’s like you have a power bank for your AirPods Pro in case you’ve exhausted both the buds and the charging case battery.

When the AirPods battery runs out, simply dock them into the charging cable slot and connect them to the phone with the USB-C cable. The buds attach securely to the cable dock without the fear of knocking them off as they dock magnetically into the deep hollow openings at the ends, Jinkyo refers to as the A terminals. If you wish to use the buds in this mode for a prolonged period, you can even skip carrying the charging case for the earbuds. The charging cable indicates the charge status with a blinking LED light on the Y-splitter section.

The idea is very practical, probably the reason we are seeing such concept design pop up. In all likelihood, Apple won’t be tempted to go for such a design evolution or design an official accessory with such functionality. Third-party manufacturers and start-ups might be tempted to turn this ideation into reality, given its utilitarian aspect.