All iPads Choosing a suitable charger

[macstatic]

Can anyone explain (or point me to a guide) on choosing a suitable charger for an iPad? In my case I'm about to buy an iPad 11 (A16), but the question applies to all iPad models.

Specifically I'm wondering how many Watts the charger should have in order to take advantage of the iPad's quick charge feature and if I need to be concerned about how "healthy" this is for the iPad/iPad battery compared to a charger with less power (i.e. "slow" or "standard" charge)?

I'm considering Apple's 20W USB-C charger, but there's also the 45W Belkin USB-C BoostCharge which costs around the same. I would never buy a "noname" charger from Ali Express or eBay (I've heard of people being electrocuted because of poor and dangerous designs), but from what I've heard, Belkin is a quality-brand similar to Apple, with more options at a slightly lower price. Correct me if I'm wrong.
Belkin also has a number of other USB-C chargers with multiple outputs and different power ratings.

 

[Apple_Robert]

The A16 iPad doesn't support fast charging. Fast charging on a regular basis would eventually wear the battery down faster than it otherwise would due to the excess heat from fast charging.

 

[bodonnell202]

Most of the iPads released in the last few years have a maximum charging wattage of about 30W, with only the most recent iPad Pro supporting faster charging at up to 60W and the iPad Mini capped at about 20W.

To get the fastest charging speed on the iPad A16 you would need a 30W or greater USB-C charger. The iPad still ships with the Apple 20W charger in most places (since you linked the US Apple site I'm assuming you are located there?). I would say unless you need the absolute fastest charging speeds the 20W charger that comes in the box is the best one to use.

 

[macstatic]

Thanks for the replies 🙂
I'm located in Norway and here Apple only supplies a USB cable along with the iPad 😕

So I'm a little confused as the two replies seem conflicting.
Does the A16 allow quicker charging with a higher than 20W charger, but this is not advisable for regular charging? In other words, unless I want to spend money on two chargers (a 20W charger for everyday charging and a great-than-30W-charger for "emergency" situations) I'll be better off getting just the 20W Apple charger?

 

[Apple_Robert]

Thanks for the replies 🙂
I'm located in Norway and here Apple only supplies a USB cable along with the iPad 😕

So I'm a little confused as the two replies seem conflicting.
Does the A16 allow quicker charging with a higher than 20W charger, but this is not advisable for regular charging? In other words, unless I want to spend money on two chargers (a 20W charger for everyday charging and a great-than-30W-charger for "emergency" situations) I'll be better off getting just the 20W Apple charger?

Keep with the standard 20w Apple charger. The A16 iPad does not support fast charging. If you bought a 45 or 60 watt charger, you still can't fast charge that particular iPad.

 

[BigBlur]

Straight from the horse's mouth:

The power delivered by the charger must be between min 15 Watts required by the radio equipment, and max 45 Watts in order to achieve the maximum charging speed.

https://cdsassets.apple.com/live/6GJYWVAV/information/locale/en-gb/ipad-a16-info.pdf

I can't speak for the A16 iPad, but I think the 20W charger charges my iPad Pro fast enough. If I want to charge it faster, I'll use my MacBook Pro's 140W charger.

If you already have a USB-C charger that can do more than 20W or 45W, you can just use that for faster charging. The wattage of the charger just means that's the maximum wattage it's capable of delivering. The iPad will only pull what it's capable of handling.

 

[macstatic]

Thanks for sharing more insight on this.
So, according to the PDF @BigBlur posted the iPad A16 can take chargers between 15 and 45W. But if @Apple_Robert is right about constant fast charging wearing down the iPad/iPad battery quicker is right I think I would stick to the 20W one. To my ears this makes perfectly sense, but what complicates it (for me) is that there is some sort of charging "intelligence" in these devices, so it's a little confusing.

We actually already have an Apple 20W USB-C charger which is currently used to charge an iPhone 11. Since the phone has a Lightning connector and the iPad has a USB-C connector we figured that it would be a good idea to get separate chargers for each device (so that we don't wear out the charger's USB-C connector by swapping charging cables).

This is slightly off topic (and if someone gives me pointers on where to look for more battery specific info I can probably figure it out myself), but provided the 20W charger is sufficient/ideal for the iPad it's perhaps a question of getting a suitable charger for the iPhone 11. If I should get a more powerful one for the iPhone 11, or if the issue of wearing down the phone's battery is an issue here as well, meaning that another 20W charger is in fact the best overall solution anyway.

 

[Davidalan]

Since you have two devices I would suggest an a bell in or anker 45w charger with 2 USB C inputs and one USB A input. That way (45 W charger) you can handle charging bothe devices at the same time since the anker or Berlin chargers support PD 3.0 power management.

 

[macstatic]

Someone told me that while the iPad (A16) can handle fast charging as it handles all that automatically, the iPhone possibly can't, so it would be safer to use the 20W USB-C charger for the phone. Does that sound correct?

Where does Apple keep that kind of information for their devices (similar to the iPad A16 charging info link below)?

The A16 iPad doesn't support fast charging. Fast charging on a regular basis would eventually wear the battery down faster than it otherwise would due to the excess heat from fast charging.

That's something we definitely don't want.
The documentation (link posted earlier in this thread, posting #6) states that the A16 does support fast charging:

The power delivered by the charger must be between min
15 Watts required by the radio equipment, and max 45 Watts
in order to achieve the maximum charging speed.

- This device supports USB PD fast charging as defined in
the USB Implementers Forum Power Delivery Specification
Revision 3.1

- This device supports USB-C & BC1.2 charging as described
in the USB Implementers Forum, USB Type-C® Cable and
Connector Specification Release 2.3 and Battery Charging
Specification v1.2 respectively.

I suppose this means that a 45W charger allows for fast charging whenever the "charging intelligence" finds that it's beneficial, but a slower charger (i.e. 20W) naturally will only allow for normal charging. And depending on how the "charging intelligence" behaves we're at the mercy of Apple's design if it brings additional tear & wear to the battery. Correct?

 

[Davidalan]

All currently sold Apple chargers support at least PDV 3. And that in combination with a mifi certified USB C or lightening cord will not over charge your apple device.