Do you really need the 20w official apple charger in order to charge the iPhone 12 at 20w or at 15 wirelessly?

[chad.petree]

I just watched this video and was shocked to see that iPhone 12 charges at around 10w if you use the MacBook charger + the wireless puck. Is this a known issue?

Also the guy making that video didn't test those chargers by just charging the phone directly with them (without the wireless puck) , do you know how fast the iPhone chargers while using a +20w third party charger and even something from a apple like a MacBook charger?

 

[minnemike]

The power requirement is PD3.0 which I think is 9v2a or 5v3a (18w and 15w respectively) - so the 20w iphone charger should cover that. What are the tech specs for the macbook charger?

It's all about meeting those charging tech standards for it to allow max wattage.

 

[chad.petree]

The person who made the video used a 61w MacBook charger, the one for the 16" a
MacBook Pro, there is not a ton of info on it on apple's website

61W USB C Power Adapter - Apple

Apple Store Search Results

www.apple.com

I have a m1 MacBook Air, and I'd like to use the 30w charger that comes with it to charge the iPhone 12 at full 20w and at 15w (while using a macsafe charger)

 

[minnemike]

The person who made the video used a 61w MacBook charger, the one for the 16" a
MacBook Pro, there is not a ton of info on it on apple's website

61W USB C Power Adapter - Apple

Apple Store Search Results

www.apple.com

I have a m1 MacBook Air, and I'd like to use the 30w charger that comes with it to charge the iPhone 12 at full 20w and at 15w (while using a macsafe charger)

Thunderbolt 3 is a more data intensive standard and I dont think it matches up well with iphone charging tech... I think 10w seems about right = basic charge. It's still not horrible tho.

 

[chrfr]

Thunderbolt 3 is a more data intensive standard and I dont think it matches up well with iphone charging tech... I think 10w seems about right = basic charge. It's still not horrible tho.

All Macs charge with USB-C. Thunderbolt is not involved there at all. Devices will only draw as much power as they are designed to draw; connecting a 61W adapter to an iPhone will not charge it at 61W.

 

[Spetsgruppa]

All Macs charge with USB-C. Thunderbolt is not involved there at all. Devices will only draw as much power as they are designed to draw; connecting a 61W adapter to an iPhone will not charge it at 61W.

20W wired is already fast imagine if its 61W lmao...

 

[chad.petree]

All Macs charge with USB-C. Thunderbolt is not involved there at all. Devices will only draw as much power as they are designed to draw; connecting a 61W adapter to an iPhone will not charge it at 61W.

That is what confuses me, the 61w has enough power to charge the iPhone at 15w and stop there at 15w, but it instead goes all the way down to 10w :/

 

[minnemike]

All Macs charge with USB-C. Thunderbolt is not involved there at all. Devices will only draw as much power as they are designed to draw; connecting a 61W adapter to an iPhone will not charge it at 61W.

That's what I'm saying. It isnt designed for phones... that port is designed for high power laptop charges AND lots of data intensive purposes with external peripherals. Thunderbolt 3 is involved because they decided that standard to not include peak phone charge for iphone.

Could they design a standard that does it all? Probably. But it wasnt done here. Take a pixelbook as a comparison, it only has a more standard USB-C port charging at high wattage. You can charge a pixel phone at peak rate as well as the pixelbook on the same charger. But they baked all of that in as a duo that you could buy together. Phone also charges off the pixelbook USB-C directly and also logs you into the pixelbook when near. But I bet it doesnt have alot of the data intensive features that thunderbolt 3 brings.

 

[minnemike]

That is what confuses me, the 61w has enough power to charge the iPhone at 15w and stop there at 15w, but it instead goes all the way down to 10w :/

Yeah - that's where "smart charger" tech comes in. IF they didnt decide to bake in the software to read the phone as well as any hardware components if needed, then it won't recognize it and reverts to default charging.