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iPhone 12 Apple is really pushing their 20W charger (Apple store experience)

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LongWayHome

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Oct 18, 2020
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I picked up my wife the iPhone 12 yesterday from our local Apple Store to replace her worn out iPhone 8 and I was really surprised at the Apple rep's insistence that I buy their 20W charger. She was nice as can be, but very insistent that their charger was the one that needed to be purchased. She explained to me that all of the Apple chargers I currently have are going to charge the phone much slower than the 20W charger Apple is offerering. She said that I definitely wanted to buy it (I bought a magsafe too for my wife to try) as even if I had an 18W charger from Apple that came with an iPad or iPhone 11 Pro Max (she saw my phone) that it was only going to charge at half the speed or possibly even slower if I use a non Apple charger.

I just found it really odd that Apple was taking that route with their charger. I asked her if it was so important that we use that charger then why didn't Apple give it to us in the box? She said "Well its better for the environment that we don't include it." I said "But you are trying to sell it to me anyway in a separate box. Isn't that the same thing?" She laughed and said "Yeah, that's what I'm supposed to tell you and we've been told to really push our charger. We reduced the price from what we were charging for them but we've been told by management to highly recommend our charger to anyone who buys magsafe as other chargers aren't going to work nearly as well."

This was all very light and friendly and I complimented her on her nice demeanor and even purchased the 20W brick as I was planning on buying one anyway. I have bought a countless number of items from Apple before and this was the first time that I've ever been asked to buy a charger. And not really even asked, it was made it seem like if I didn't I wouldn't be able to get the most out of the phone (which is true I guess to point with magsafe).

Has anyone else had a similar experience in the Apple store. On a side note, I really love the look and feel of the 12 and am extremely jealous of my wife right now. Still on the fence about getting the 12 Pro Max.
 
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I can see why they would make it seem like a must have if you were also buying MagSafe.
But if it was just the phone, then just making the customer aware of the lack of power brick is sufficient in my mind. The 20W isn’t needed for most people.
 
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Yeah if you were just getting the phone, I would be very upset with them pushing the charger without putting it in the box. But if it’s for MagSafe, I understand it because most people would be getting the cheapest brick they could and then surprised at how slow it was. This has been the Apple way for years now. Make an upgraded power brick that cost more but isn’t sold with a cable for it.
 
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I had the same experience and it was a bit disappointing. I purchased a phone for a family member and when I picked it up the salesperson was insistent that I consider the MagSafe charger. Although it is cool I had already purchased two wireless chargers for my family member so I had no need. The salesperson then told me how I needed to buy a USB-C power brick to charge the phone "better" (their words) compared to whatever I had at home (even though the salesperson never asked what I was currently doing to charge). I already knew of this because I am a nerd (self burn) and know all of the details of the phone, included items, charging capabilities, etc. But I could see how someone like my parents, who know practically nothing about all of this technology, would feel pressured into buying these items because they feel they are in some way required.
I was disappointed in the sales pitch and I wish they did a better job explaining to customers. They could have started with, "what phone do you have know and how do you charge it?".
 
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I understand fast charging if you’re a actually in a hurry, but for overnight I think the 5W is just fine. i think Apple is planning on ditching the charging port so pushing the 20W charger and MagSafe charging makes sense in order to make that happen. But in your example I’ve never had a pushy salesperson in an Apple store.
 
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Theory: Apple is standardizing around the 20W charger. The iPad Air, new iPad Pro (late 2020/early 2021), and iBook (Apple Silicon MacBook) all will use a variant on A14. So they will all use the same charger.
Apple is pushing the charger because at next month’s launch, they will say something like “if you already have our 20W charger, you can use the one charger for all our Apple Silicon devices”
 
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When I picked up my 12 Pro from the Apple store I had already decided to get the charging brick as I needed an extra and it was only $19. I do believe they should have included it or offered it as an option. No one at the store pressured me to buy it or get a MagSafe charger. It could have been because it was cold, drilling rain and we had to stand outside in a tent and my salesperson looked a bit frozen - maybe????

I have noticed my two other wireless chargers no longer seem to work well with my 12 Pro. If I get it on the charger just right it will start to charge but it then just seems to stop - on both of them. Since I like using the cable better as the phone does not get as warm, I am not that concerned just stuck with two wireless chargers that are worthless now.
 
meDANOcine said:
Theory: Apple is standardizing around the 20W charger. The iPad Air, new iPad Pro (late 2020/early 2021), and iBook (Apple Silicon MacBook) all will use a variant on A14. So they will all use the same charger.
Apple is pushing the charger because at next month’s launch, they will say something like “if you already have our 20W charger, you can use the one charger for all our Apple Silicon devices”
Click to expand...

I don’t see that happening. Not the charger nor the name change of the Macbook line to something with the long abandoned iStuff naming scheme.

Although of course one charger for everything would be nice to have.
 
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I went to our Apple store to get a case and screen protector. No one mentioned the brick let alone pressured me to get one. My son reminded me that we didn’t have the right brick to use the cable that came with the phone so we grabbed one. Bs that they are not included but this will be the new norm.
 
Otflyer said:
Not entirely. The average buyer won’t know that.
Click to expand...
That's what I was just going to post. The average consumer has no idea about volts, amps, and profiles etc. That's why Apple is pushing it with the Magsafe. For just the phone?...well that's different story!
 
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jdlindsey7 said:
I had the same experience and it was a bit disappointing. I purchased a phone for a family member and when I picked it up the salesperson was insistent that I consider the MagSafe charger. Although it is cool I had already purchased two wireless chargers for my family member so I had no need. The salesperson then told me how I needed to buy a USB-C power brick to charge the phone "better" (their words) compared to whatever I had at home (even though the salesperson never asked what I was currently doing to charge). I already knew of this because I am a nerd (self burn) and know all of the details of the phone, included items, charging capabilities, etc. But I could see how someone like my parents, who know practically nothing about all of this technology, would feel pressured into buying these items because they feel they are in some way required.
I was disappointed in the sales pitch and I wish they did a better job explaining to customers. They could have started with, "what phone do you have know and how do you charge it?".
Click to expand...
Salesperson was "insistent" like a car salesperson, or were they suggesting? They were probably told to make some suggestions as this is the first time Apple is not including a brick. Old timers may know what is going on, but newbies not so much and this is one way they are addressing that divide in the Apple store.
 
Will the 12w be sufficient enough as a daily/nightly charger? I fast charged the XS Max on it and I think that was part of my battery issues.
 
I’ve had my XS Max since launch day 2018. It is charged wirelessly all night, every night without fail.
EA6823EF-FFBF-4948-ADFD-0A8C91636539.jpeg
 
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