When it comes to fast charging, Apple’s iPhones kind of pale in comparison to what we’re seeing on Android. Take for example OnePlus, which supports 65W fast charging which is pretty insane, but to be fair to Apple, the company has kind of come around on that.
It should be noted that the speeds you get will vary from model to model, and even then it won’t match what Android has to offer, but it’s still better than nothing.
According to Apple, using a compatible fast charger will help juice your iPhone by as much as 50% in 30 minutes, which is pretty decent if you need a jolt of energy to get you through the remaining hours of the day.
So, how do you fast charge your iPhone? You will, of course, need a compatible iPhone. At the moment, the phones that officially support fast charging include:
- iPhone 8
- iPhone 8 Plus
- iPhone X
- iPhone XR
- iPhone XS
- iPhone XS Max
- iPhone 11
- iPhone 11 Pro
- iPhone 11 Pro Max
- iPhone SE (2020)
- iPhone 12
- iPhone 12 Mini
- iPhone 12 Pro
- iPhone 12 Pro Max
Chances are if you’re using the official charger that comes bundled with your iPhone, it caps out at 5W. This means that in order to fast charge, you’ll need two pieces of hardware:
- Apple USB-C to Lightning cable
- Apple USB-C Power Adapter
- OR a third-party charger that supports USB Power Delivery
Now the good news is that if you own one of Apple’s newer MacBooks that already use a USB-C for charging, the company says that you can actually use those chargers to fast charge your iPhone.
According to Apple, the supported USB-C Power Adapters include the 18W, 20W, 29W, 30W, 61W, 87W, or 96W models. Do note that for the iPhone 12 series, Apple requires 20W or higher.
Some of you might be worried that 96W might be overkill for fast charging, but you can rest assured that it will be fine.
This is because the amount of power used is being regulated by your phone, which means that it will never draw more power than it can handle, but since the higher-powered charging bricks are more expensive, you might be better off buying the lower-powered ones unless you have a need for the higher power output besides just charging your phone.
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