Introduction
As if 2020 weren't bad enough already, Apple has started shipping its iPhones without chargers. There was an attempt for this change to be passed as an eco-friendly gesture, but Apple and its investors are the biggest winners from this controversial move, as anyone can easily guess. And even worse, other manufacturers may follow suit.
To make this possible, Apple slowly laid the foundation in recent years by adopting a more or less universal charging protocol for its products - USB Power Delivery. All current iPhones and MacBooks can be charged with any USB-PD charger you may have at home. And if you don't have one, Apple would gladly sell you one. But this all bodes the question - is Apple's charger better in some way than the alternatives already available in the market. USB Power Delivery is hardly new, and there are many compatible options - even if they are not meant for iPhones specifically.
So if you are getting a new iPhone this season - you are bound to ask yourself the smart question - what charger do I get for my new iPhone? Well, we're here to shed some light on that.
All iPhones until the iPhone 11 Pro used to ship with 5W adapters, while the iPhone 11 Pro and 11 Pro Max were the only models to come with an 18W 'Pro' charger. The latter has been discontinued in favor of an upgraded 20W version. And as far as Apple is concerned, you should buy either the 5W or the 20W adapter.
Well, some of you might have forgotten, but the iPad's original 10W and 12W chargers also fast charge the iPhones - all iPhones. And compared to the 5W slouch, the 10W and the 12W adapters can do a pretty decent job.
All iPhones since the iPhone 8 also support Qi wireless charging. And all except the iPhone 12 generation are limited to the slow 7.5W charging. With the newly introduced MagSafe wireless charger, the iPhone 12 can now go as high as 15W.
Finally, it's good to know that all iPhones since the iPhone 8 support USB-PD charging and all USB-PD adapters work just fine with the iPhones. We have taken this last wholeheartedly, and that's why we did this mad charging streak with the chargers we've got in our office. And we've found out some peculiarities, which we hope will help you choose the best charger for you.
And before we go deep into some charging numbers, here are the official charging specs for the iPhone 12 series according to Apple:
- Fast-charge: Up to 50% charge in 30 minutes with 20W adapter or higher
- MagSafe wireless charging up to 15W
- Qi wireless charging up to 7.5W
And here is the list with all chargers we've used for this test:
- Apple 5W charger (iPhone)
- Apple 10W charger (iPad)
- Apple 12W charger (iPad)
- Apple 18W charger (iPhone)
- Apple 20W charger (iPhone)
- Apple 29W charger (MacBook)
- Google 18W USB-PD charger (Pixel 3)
- Samsung 25W charger (Galaxy Note20 Ultra)
- Xiaomi 10W charger (Redmi 9)
- Xiaomi 22.5W charger (Redmi Note 9S)
- Huawei 18W charger (P30 Lite)
- IKEA KOPPLA 12W charger
- Aukey 12W car charger
- Apple MagSafe wireless charger
- Samsung Wireless Charging Stand (2018)
- Samsung Wireless Charging Stand (2019)
- Xiaomi Powerbank 20,000 mAh 18W, 2x USB-A, microUSB
Finally, we've used these two cables for our charging tests:
- Apple USB-C to Lightning cable from iPhone 12 Pro
- Apple USB-A to Lightning cable from iPhone X
And now let's look at some numbers, shall we?
Wired charging with Apple chargers
Let's start with our wired charging experiments with Apple's OEM adapters. Luckily, we managed to find all of them for this article - the small 5W adapter, the iPad's 10W and 12W chargers, the iPhone's 18W and 20W plugs, and the MacBook's 29W power adapter. These are probably the most expensive solutions you can buy, but, you know, getting an Apple charger sounds the right thing to do - at least on paper. But which one? So, let's check them out.
For our test setup, we've used the same phone - an iPhone 12 Pro, completely discharged and properly cooled before plugging it in. The room temperature was 23C.
We observed the slowest charging times with a 5W adapter. Apple sells its own 5W charger for $19/€25/£19 apiece, and that's simply outrageous. But perhaps you have one already from an older iPhone, and you are wondering whether it would be any good for charging your shiny new iPhone. Well, yes... and no.
Slower chargers sound just what the doctor ordered if you care about battery longevity or if you usually charge your phone overnight. However, the caveat here is that the charger must have a cable of its own because the new iPhones ship with a Lightning cable that ends in a USB-C port, enabling the highest charging speeds, but you can't plug that in one of those older chargers.
If you have a 5W Apple power adapter complete with a Lighting cable, you can use them to recharge 19% of the iPhone 12 Pro's depleted battery in 30 mins. An hour of charging gets you 38%, while a full charge requires almost 3 hours.
5W Apple power adapter
Surprisingly, the 5W Apple adapter, in fact, outputs 7.5W (5V, 1.5A) when you connect an iPhone - at least for the first 30 minutes, and then it slowly tapers off to 5W. The charger gets hot at the beginning, and that's the reason - this small thingy outputs more power than it is rated at as long as it's an iPhone that's connected to it.
If you have Apple's 10W power adapter from an old iPad, you can do even better. It will recharge 32% of your battery in 30 minutes, 61% in an hour, while a full charge takes about 2 hours and 20 minutes.
This 10W adapter charges at its nominal power output of 10W and after 30 minutes drops to 9W.
12W (left) and 10W (right) Apple power adapter originally made for iPads
Apple's 12W iPad charger is even better - it refills 43% of the battery in half an hour, 79% in an hour, and a full charge takes 1 hour and 40 minutes.
In comparison, even the fastest charger possible will still give you 50% or so by the 30 minutes mark and 80% by the 60 min one. The slow charging begins shortly after passing 80%, and trickle charging begins at 95%.
The 12W adapter's charge is actually 12.48W (5.2V - 2.4A), and it posted some pretty good numbers! It always outputs its maximum, and its results are not that far off the fastest charging possible.
With the release of the iPhone 12, Apple discontinued the 18W adapter, but it can still be found online, and you may also have it if you own an iPhone 11 Pro or 11 Pro Max.
18W and 20W Apple power adapters have USB-C ports and look identical
This 18W charger replenishes 57% in 30 minutes, 87% in 50 minutes, while a full charge is achieved in 1 hour and 45 minutes. This charger outputs 18W at first and drops to 5W upon reaching 80%.
Apple's most current 20W charger recharges 62% in 30 minutes, 90% in 60 minutes, and 100% in 1 hour and 22 minutes. It outputs 20W at first and goes to 5W shortly after reaching 80%.
29W Apple power adapters was the first adapter to offer fast charging
Finally, Apple's MacBook 29W power adapter refills 59% in 30 minutes, 83% in 60 minutes, and 100% in 1 hour and 21 minutes.
The even faster 29W MacBook charger was the only fast charger we got for the Xs and Xs Max family. This was before Apple released the 18W adapter we just talked about.
The 29W adapter is rated at 14.9V - 2A, 5.2 - 2.4A, and it charges at about 17W for 20 minutes, 14W for another 30 minutes, and then goes down to 5W or so. It always uses 14.9V at 1.2A or lower when charging fast. It doesn't support 9V, just 14.9V and 5V. It cannot achieve more than 17W - charging at 14.9V makes the phone hot, and we guess this is why the amperage is limited. We sure don't recommend using this brick every day as it charges at high voltage, and chances are it will shorten the lifespan of your battery faster than any of the other chargers tested.
Let's talk about time to full charge now. The iPhone 12 Pro charges fast until it reaches about 80%, and then it drops to 5W or lower. That's why the last 20% usually take the same amount of time to complete regardless of the charger used - and that's usually about 40 to 50 minutes.
So, all chargers rated 12W or more recharge the iPhone 12 Pro in about one and a half hours. The 10W and 5W power adapters require longer than that.
Time to full charge (from 0%)
- Apple 29W
1:21h - Apple 20W
1:22h - Apple 12W
1:40h - Apple 18W
1:42h - Apple 10W
1:51h - Apple 5W
2:52h
Conclusion: The best genuine Apple charger for your iPhone is probably the new 20W adapter. If you have the 12W one from an old iPad (with a cable to go with it), it will do a splendid job, and you don't have to buy a new one. An 18W charger would perform as well as the 20W one, but this is a discontinued model so watch out for fakes. Now let's check out some third-party alternatives on the next page.
Wired charging with third-party adapters
You can always charge your new iPhone with a third-party charger. Better yet, you could already have a suitable one at home. We have a ton of chargers at our office, so we took a few to see how they would compare to Apple's.
The USB-PD chargers we used are Google Pixel's 18W adapter and Galaxy Note20 Ultra's 25W adapter.
The QC-compatible chargers we took are Xiaomi's 22.5W adapter from the Redmi Note 9S and Xiaomi's 18W 20,000 mAh Powerbank. We also tested with Huawei's 18W QuickCharge adapter from the P30 Lite.
Finally, the regular chargers we've used for this test are Xiaomi's 10W adapter from the Redmi 9, IKEA's KOPPLA 3xUSB 12W adapter, and AUKEY's 12W car charger.
The USB Power Delivery compatible chargers work great. Google's 18W adapter is a match to Apple's - it replenishes 56% in half an hour and 86% in one hour. Just like Apple's 18W adapter, this one also outputs the maximum 18W.
Using Samsung's 25W charger from its latest Galaxy Note 20 Ultra yields the same results as Apple's own 20W adapter - meaning you get 60% in 30 mins and 89% in 60 mins. The iPhone 12 Pro won't take more than 20W, though, and that's what it takes from Samsung's adapter. This means the new iPhones always fast charge at a maximum of 20W whether you are using a 20W or a 120W charger.
The Quick Charge-rated adapters are no good for the iPhones - they simply won't fast charge your smartphone. Take the Xiaomi's 22.5W adapter from the Redmi Note 9S, for example - it works at about 4.5W and refills 17% in 30 minutes and 28% in 60 minutes.
The 18W Quick Charge Xiaomi 20,000mAh Powerbank is more versatile as it offers 5.1V x 2.4A (12.24W) standard output in addition to QC ones. It recharges 38% of the iPhone's dead battery in half an hour and 62% in one hour.
Huawei's 18W QuickCharge adapter from the P30 Lite usually outputs about 9W and refills 30% in 30 minutes and 56% in 1 hour.
IKEA's KOPPLA ($8, €6, £6), the one with 3x USB-A ports, is one very popular power adapter found in many homes around the world. It is rated 5V-2.4A or 12W on one port or 17W for the total of three ports. Hooking the iPhone 12 Pro on this charger is an excellent idea - it outputs full 12W and recharges 44% in half an hour and 80% in one hour.
The Aukey's 12W car charger is plenty fast, too. It outputs 12W on each of USB-A ports and it replenishes 44% of the iPhone's dead battery in 30 mins and 78% in 60 mins.
Finally, we've tested with Xiaomi's 10W adapter from the Redmi 9 box. It is the same plug the maker is shipping with a variety of home appliances like mini vacuum cleaners, shaves, etc. Oddly, it can't work at 10W. Instead, the iPhone is taking about 7.5W (5V, 1.5A), and it refills 23% in 30 mins and 40% in 60 mins.
Now let's take a look at the full charge times. As we said before - upon reaching 80% the iPhone begins to charge slow and the last 20% require pretty much the same time to complete - between 40 and 50 minutes - no matter the charger.
So, all USB-PD chargers, as well as those rated at 12W, will completely recharge the iPhone 12 Pro for about 1 hours and 30 minutes. The Quick Charge adapters aren't quick at all as they are incompatible.
Time to full charge (from 0%)
- Samsung USB-PD 25W
1:25h - Google USB-PD 18W
1:31h - IKEA KOPPLA 12W
1:38h - AUKEY 12W car charger
1:39h - Huawei QC 18W
1:59h - Xiaomi Powerbank 18W QC2.0
2:10h - Xiaomi 10W adapter
2:33h - Xiaomi QC3 22.5W
4:20h
Conclusion: The iPhone 12 Pro chargers fast with any 18W+ USB-PD power adapter. Whether it's made by Samsung, Google, IKEA, Anker or other - it will fast charge your iPhone. If you have chargers rated at 5.0V-5.2V at 2.4A, such as the IKEA KOPPLA, they should be fast enough, too, and purchasing a USB-PD adapter could be unnecessary.
Wireless charging
The iPhone 12 Pro supports up to 15W 'fast' wireless charging but only when using MagSafe chargers. It is Qi certified, of course, but if you opt for a regular Qi-compatible charger, you'll be limited to 5W-7.5W or so.
The MagSafe charger works at a maximum speed only when coupled with Apple's new 20W charger. We've tested with other USB-PD adapters, and the thing won't go beyond 10W if it's not hooked on Apple's latest adapter.
But the worst thing is that the MagSafe wireless charger provides 15W only in the first 10 minutes or so, excluding the 5 minutes it took to wake up our dead iPhone 12 Pro. After fast charging for a bit, it drops the output to 10W and won't go higher. And, of course, it finally drops to 5W upon reaching 80% charge.
So, the MagSafe with Apple's 20W adapter combo lifted the iPhone 12 Pro dead battery to 30% in 30 minutes, while a full charge on that charger required 3 full hours!
We also tested the iPhone 12 Pro on two Samsung Wireless Stands - the one from 2018 that doesn't support iPhone 'fast' charge, and the best it can do is 5W. The 2019 model supports up to 7.5W iPhone charging, which is better.
So, the 5W 2018 Samsung Wireless Stand refilled 18% in 30 minutes of the iPhone 12 Pro battery, 33% in 60 minutes, while a full charge required nearly 4 hours!
It gets better with the 2019 Samsung Wireless Charging Stand model, which outputs 7.5W. It recharges 22% in half an hour, 40% in one hour, while a full charge requires 3 hours and 14 minutes.
And here is the chart with the full charge times.
Time to full charge (from 0%)
- Apple MagSafe 15W
3:00h - Samsung Wireless (2019)
3:14h - Samsung Wireless (2018)
3:51h
Conclusion: The iPhones are not super fast with wireless charging. The MagSafe wireless charger may have its benefits, but it takes forever to recharge an iPhone wirelessly, and that's with the extra purchase of Apple's 20W power adapter. If you enjoy the added convenience of a wireless charger for say, charging your phone on your nightstand, you can save some cash by getting any wireless charger instead of Apple's. If you charge the phone while you sleep, do you really care whether it takes 3h or 4h?
Our take at charging the iPhone 12 Pro
All new iPhones support similar charging standards, so whatever conclusions we draw here - apply for all of the iPhone 12 models. And since the iPhone 12 and 12 Pro have identical batteries, the times we measured are accurate for both.
We did a lot of testing, and one thing became crystal clear way before we were done. The iPhones don't fast charge like other phones as Apple has some numbers in mind, and it always tries to hit them regardless of the charger - that's 50% for half an hour, 80% for one hour.
And it turned out that no matter the charger - as long as it's rated 12W or more - it will do a satisfying job charging your iPhone.
Wireless charging is slower, with charging speeds equivalent to those with a 10W wired charger. If you choose wireless charging, you are obviously not after speed but convenience. In this case, we can't imagine why you would need to splurge for a MagSafe charger with a 20W adapter - just get any regular 10W charger, and you will be fine even though it charges at 7.5W.
Back to wired charging, we are glad Apple chose USB Power Delivery for its fast-charging solution as it's easy to find such power adapters - they are everywhere. And the best part - you don't need to buy the most expensive one as the iPhones max out at 20W. Anything that's 18W or 20W will do great.
IKEA/Aukey/Anker/etc. 12W standard or 18+W fast chargers are utilized pretty well, too, so if you've purchased such - you have what it takes to fast charge an iPhone 12.
Our charger recommendations
The cheapest Apple charger is the 5W one, yet it's not really cheap at all. Its price in the USA is $19, you can get it for €25 in the EU, and £19 in the UK.
Apple's 12W iPad adapter also costs $19/€25/£19, and so is the Apple's new 20W charger.
Apple's 18W chargers have been discontinued, but if you can find them considerably cheaper than the 20W ones, by all means, then get one.
The MacBook USB-PD chargers are way more expensive, yet they still max out at 20W, so we will not list their prices. And even if you have one, we always strongly suggest buying a separate iPhone adapter as the high-voltage charging isn't as good for your battery.
Obviously, you should spend your money on the 20W Apple Power Adapter if an OEM charger is a must.
The company that has the best deals for third-party chargers is, believe it or not, IKEA. The 12W KOPPLA charger costs $8/€6/£6 and it has three USB ports. The cheaper 1-port KOPPLA will deliver the same charging power of 12W with an iPhone even though it's only rated at 10W. If you get any of these chargers with USB-A ports, you would also have to buy a cable separately, and the Lighting cable from IKEA will run you another €10 or £8.>
So perhaps the best deal for an iPhone charger from IKEA is the IKEA ÅSKSTORM 23W adapter, as it has a USB-C port which will output up to 18W to the iPhone 12 using the cable that came with the phone and best of all, it only costs $12 or €10!
IKEA chargers are big, though, so if you want a more compact USB-PD fast charger, or more versatile for the cash Apple wants, or more powerful yet cheap, here are some recommendations.
If small charger is a must, you may want to check the AUKEY Omnia Mini 20W. Its USB-PD 3.0 compatible, small, and costs $15.
Then there is the PowerArc 20W GaN charger, which is USB-PD compatible, it is said to support MagSafe, and it's quite small. It costs $20.
The AUKEY 12W car charger we used in our tests is a pretty sweet thing - it can output 12W on each of its two ports and costs just £8.
Or spend some more and get the 30W PD car charger by AUKEY, which can fast charge not only iPhones, but any USB-PD and QC3.0 device. It costs just $15.
If you are after a more versatile wall charger, like AUKEY's car adapters, check this AUKEY Focus GaN 60W adapter for $28. It has one USB-C and one USB-A port and supports pretty much any charging tech you can think of. It can charge your laptop, too.
The 60W PowerPort Atom PD GaN by Anker is yet another versatile power adapter than supports fast charging smartphones, Nintendo Switch, and even laptops. It's a bit more expensive at $46.
The MagSafe costs $39/€45/£39 and requires you to buy a specific power adapter separately for $19/€25/£19 and then it does not impress with performance. This thing is way overpriced for what it offers. Still, we can't stop you if you like the magnetic click when you put your iPhone on top of it.
So, there are plenty of chargers that will charge your iPhone quickly - finding a suitable charger is neither hard nor expensive. We just wish we didn't have to write this piece - if only Apple shipped the charger in the box like we're used to.
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