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Wolfpup

macrumors 68030
Original poster
Sep 7, 2006
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I think we're getting one for my mom to replace an iPhone 7, and just wondering if it fully supports her existing 5 watt charger, like that it'll fully power it without taping in to the battery as she uses it.
 
Yeah, it’ll work perfectly!
So it'll display as charging and won't like burn power faster than it supplies it?

Sorry, I'm worried about that but don't want to spend the extra money if I don't have to. (Fast charging is irrelevant for us...my iPhone 13 has the 20 watt charger though which I use with the magsafe charging pad)
 
So it'll display as charging and won't like burn power faster than it supplies it?

Sorry, I'm worried about that but don't want to spend the extra money if I don't have to. (Fast charging is irrelevant for us...my iPhone 13 has the 20 watt charger though which I use with the magsafe charging pad)

5W should work just fine, especially if she charges it overnight. I do it with my 15 (Apple’s 5W charger + Anker USB-A to USB-C cable).

It will not drain faster than charge if she uses it, but it will take longer to charge fully and can warm the phone up if she uses FaceTime or anything else power hungry, which is not ideal. Casual browsing, emailing or messaging while charging are all fine, however.
 
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5W iPhone 15 Pro Max user checking in.

Yes, it works fine. It'll even charge a MacBook if you're patient enough.
 
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5W should work just fine, especially if she charges it overnight. I do it with my 15 (Apple’s 5W charger + Anker USB-A to USB-C cable).

It will not drain faster than charge if she uses it, but it will take longer to charge fully and can warm the phone up if she uses FaceTime or anything else power hungry, which is not ideal. Casual browsing, emailing or messaging while charging are all fine, however.
So dumb question, but why would it heat up more using a smaller power supply? (assuming it's not pulling from the battery?)

I guess I'm shocked these things which have non-joke CPUs/GPUs and bright screens and everything else can actually be powered inside a 5w envelope!

I'm nor worried about how long it takes to charge, but just that it provides enough power to fully run the thing.

She doesn't use video chat, but does make phone calls, browse the web, email, stuff like that
 
So dumb question, but why would it heat up more using a smaller power supply? (assuming it's not pulling from the battery?)

It heats up because FaceTime is a massive energy gobbler. In fact, it warms up an iPhone even when it’s unplugged, so the power input of your charger just contributes to this heat to some degree, 5W less so and 20W more so.

If she leaves her iPhone idle while it charges, there will be less heat generated. This is why I normally charge it at night with a 5W charger and do occasional short boosters with a 20W charger or in the car (a wired USB one).
 
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