iPhone 6 and 6 Plus Capable of Faster Charging Using iPad 2.1A Adapter

[HiRez]

The charging circuit controls how much it wishes to draw. The charger does not decide how much to push.

The iPhone is entirely in control of how much juice it pulls, thus it is also clearly designed this way. Unless you're claiming to know something that the engineers who designed the thing don't.

Exactly. If Apple didn't want the iPhone to draw more than 5W, it would have set it not to. They have complete control over that. If you disagree with that you are basically saying you know better than Apple engineers (which theoretically could be true, but I doubt it). It's foolish to think they didn't think about this stuff.

 

[elvislives]

Hmm... I thought this was common knowledge. I use my iPad charger all the time with my iPhone 5 and now 6. The charge time is so much shorter!!!

It is, and Apple guy in the shop, told me the iPad charger will charge your phone faster... The reason Apple don't supply them is prob that they are bigger than the iPhone charger... and cost more.

 

[EldonChew]

It is, and Apple guy in the shop, told me the iPad charger will charge your phone faster... The reason Apple don't supply them is prob that they are bigger than the iPhone charger... and cost more.

They cost the same as the 1A charger

http://store.apple.com/us/ipad/ipad-accessories/power

 

[5H3PH3RD]

It is, and Apple guy in the shop, told me the iPad charger will charge your phone faster... The reason Apple don't supply them is prob that they are bigger than the iPhone charger... and cost more.

Fairly comprehensive discussion on the Apple Forums. Even a very competent electrical engineer there agree's that if you charge it quicker you are not doing your battery any good:

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/2580579?start=45&tstart=0

Apple supply it with a certain charger for a reason, use it. I can attest to the fact that the faster charging with a higher rated charger (approved by apple) ruins my battery much faster!

 

[hdgarcia]

No it is not intentionally designed that way. Every device that has a battery from a laptop to a phone can do it. I've been doing it on my 4S. Guess what? I have been through 2 batteries (edited as I am actually on my 3rd). Thats a conscious decision I have made, but it definitely screws the battery.



I never said it wasn't fine. The thing is not going to blow up, but it is also not going to last anywhere near as long. No charging with less will not damage the device at all.

It has probably skyrocketed recently since the quality and content of the articles has equally skyrocketed in terms of poor content, poorly written and a lot of errors.

I ONLY charge my phones with my iPad charger and I have never had a better issue. 3gs, 4s, 5s. All still running fine.

 

[fivedots]

They cost the same as the 1A charger

http://store.apple.com/us/ipad/ipad-accessories/power

To buy, sure. To make, doubt it. 12W is larger but also modular which undoubtedly adds a fair bit of cost.

 

[bkribbs]

And so is the iPhone 6 (Plus).

The iPhone 5s or earlier was not designed for that amperage therefore even if you charge with a 2.1A charger, it would be the same as charging with a 1A charger.

But now that the iPhone 6 (Plus) can charge faster with a 2.1A charger, this means that it was designed for that amperage.

If it was not, then it would be like the iPhone 5s or earlier who would not charge faster with a 2.1A charger.

I never said the iPhone 6 or 6 plus was or wasn't. I just said the iPad one was. Quite frankly I believe I would agree, but again that wasn't a point I was arguing.

Makes no sense.

The charging circuit controls how much it wishes to draw. The charger does not decide how much to push.

The iPhone is entirely in control of how much juice it pulls, thus it is also clearly designed this way. Unless you're claiming to know something that the engineers who designed the thing don't.

Again, I wasn't making a statement about the iPhone.

 

[SirOmega]

Charging with more powerful adapters is hard on the li-ion battery. While it will give you a quick charge it will take a major toll on the batter life after a few months. There are hundreds of articles/videos on why this is so.

It maybe safe, but it is not good for the battery to do this. I swear the quality of MR reporting his hitting rock bottom recently. I mean is this article for real?

Any device will charge quicker if you pump up the amps. Likewise it will charge slower if you use less amps. I don't recommend anyone does this regularly.

So you're saying that my iPad battery is doomed?

Ya, I'd be concerned about the ramifications on the battery and long term performance. If this was the case, why wouldn't Apple just have included the more powerful charger?

Its clear no one here understands Li-Ion battery chemistry. I've been following this stuff for a while now for EVs (I drive a Volt).

A Li-Ion battery's usable life is determined by three variables - calendar life, cycle life, and charging rate (measured in "C" which is the ratio between charging rate and battery capacity in mAh - so "1C" is discharging or recharging the battery in 1 hour, 0.5 is two hours, and 2C is 30 minutes).

Recent research from Stanford Univ. has shown the effects of "slow charging" to be overstated, and the effects of fast-charging less harmful than originally thought.

Recharging an iPhone 5S at 1A is about .63C (1000mA / 1570mAh). Recharging an iPhone 6 Plus at 2.1A is .71C (2100mA / 2950mA). The difference there is not enough to dramatically effect the lifespan of the battery cell. The 6 has a higher charge rate of 1.16C, but I don't beleive that its very harmful to the battery and the higher charge rate will not shorten the overall lifespan of the battery. For reference, recharging an iPad Air at 2.1A is .24C ( 2100mA / 8820mAh).

Its not until you go over 2C that you start to see substantial impacts. Even Tesla owners who fast-charge frequently still have 99% original battery capacity after more than 100 cycles.

 

[5H3PH3RD]

I ONLY charge my phones with my iPad charger and I have never had a better issue. 3gs, 4s, 5s. All still running fine.

Just one of many similar quotes from the Apple discussion forums:

Couple of months bsck I bought the latest iPad - I use the iPad charger with my iPhone 4S as it's by my bed.

My iPhone charges in 30 mins to full?

I get out of the shower in the morning and the 100% charge is 80% - within the hour it's down to 60%.

It's flat on no time. Back in the charger for 15 mins - back up to 100%.

My battery is stuffed.

On the other side of the bed, my wife has the same phone, bought the same day - her phone lasts all day.

Exactly what happen's to my 4S every time. First battery, using the correct charger lasted a good time, then I got lazy and didn't want to use multiple chargers. Its been downhill since. I also notice an improvement if I switch back to the 1A that came with it.

 

[fivedots]

For those saying that they charged their 5S and below with an iPad charger and it shortened their battery life: have you actually tested this with an ammeter or similar to see if the iPhone was actually drawing more current? I doubt it was.

It's completely anecdotal. I've only ever used my included iPhone charger on my 5 and my battery is terrible now too.

 

[BigBeast]

I never said it wasn't fine.

It maybe safe, but it is not good for the battery to do this.

No charging with less will not damage the device at all.

Delivering less amperage than a device needs will place increasing stress on the power supply, leading to damage due to overheating and/or device malfunction.

 

[5H3PH3RD]

For those saying that they charged their 5S and below with an iPad charge and it shortened their battery life: have you actually tested this with an ammeter or similar to see if the iPhone was actually drawing more current? I doubt it was.

It's completely anecdotal. I've only ever used my included iPhone charger on my 5 and my battery is terrible now too.

Its hardly anecdotal when I am on my 3rd battery in 3 years. The first one, using the right charger, lasted a good time. The second with a higher amperage a lot less and already I can tell the 3rd was/is going the same way. So much so that literally since last week I have been ensuring that I use the correct charger. There is a noticeable heat difference when charging between the two chargers. I have noticed a better all day lifetime since going back to the 1A charger. Though it is early days as it has only been circa a week.

 

[fivedots]

Exactly what happen's to my 4S every time. First battery, using the correct charger lasted a good time, then I got lazy and didn't want to use multiple chargers. Its been downhill since. I also notice an improvement if I switch back to the 1A that came with it.

Well that just makes no sense. Your 4S battery started to suck because it's old and getting older. We're talking about the possibility of long-term damage, so switching back the 1A and everything getting better is nothing but placebo.

EDIT: Okay, I now see you've had it replaced several times so it's not an old battery.

Either way, this is easy to solve: someone needs to measure the current draw on both chargers with an iPhone 5S or below.

 

[jmattor]

Its clear no one here understands Li-Ion battery chemistry. I've been following this stuff for a while now for EVs (I drive a Volt).

A Li-Ion battery's usable life is determined by three variables - calendar life, cycle life, and charging rate (measured in "C" which is the ratio between charging rate and battery capacity in mAh - so "1C" is discharging or recharging the battery in 1 hour, 0.5 is two hours, and 2C is 30 minutes).

Recent research from Stanford Univ. has shown the effects of "slow charging" to be overstated, and the effects of fast-charging less harmful than originally thought.

Recharging an iPhone 5S at 1A is about .63C (1000mA / 1570mAh). Recharging an iPhone 6 Plus at 2.1A is .71C (2100mA / 2950mA). The difference there is not enough to dramatically effect the lifespan of the battery cell. The 6 has a higher charge rate of 1.16C, but I don't beleive that its very harmful to the battery and the higher charge rate will not shorten the overall lifespan of the battery. For reference, recharging an iPad Air at 2.1A is .24C ( 2100mA / 8820mAh).

Its not until you go over 2C that you start to see substantial impacts. Even Tesla owners who fast-charge frequently still have 99% original battery capacity after more than 100 cycles.

Spot-on! Good info!

Here's more:

http://www.pcworld.com/article/2683...last-slow-charging-may-not-be-the-answer.html

 

[5H3PH3RD]

Well that just makes no sense. Your 4S battery started to suck because it's old and getting older. We're talking about the possibility of long-term damage, so switching back the 1A and everything getting better is nothing but placebo.

My latest battery is only 3 months old. Read.

 

[fivedots]

My latest battery is only 3 months old. Read.

It's very hard for me to read your comments when we're posting them at the same time. I edited my comment to reflect that.

 

[eagle33199]

Its not until you go over 2C that you start to see substantial impacts. Even Tesla owners who fast-charge frequently still have 99% original battery capacity after more than 100 cycles.

What about 700 cycles? Realistically, most smart phones go through at least 1 charge/discharge cycle per day (with normal use), and the expectation has been that they'll last 2 years before being upgraded (although apparently carriers are trying to change that). So what will the affect be at the end of those two years? If I slow charge a phone for two years versus fast charging it, what will be the difference in battery capacity at the end of the two years? We all know the battery capacity will drop over two years, we've seen it happen on every phone we've ever owned. Is it going to drop noticeably more with fast charging?

I don't know the answer to this, and I haven't seen anything scientific to answer it.

 

[Reminisce32]

Is it safe to charge the iPhone with a desktop's USB port?

 

[5H3PH3RD]

Quote from Tom's Hardware - Definitive Guide to Lithium Ion Batteries

"Finally, the battery should have a temperature between 20-45 degrees C whilst charging. Below this the lithium coats the electrodes, and above it the pressure becomes too high.

In both these cases the temperature can potentially render the battery unstable. Generally, if the charging temperature goes past 45 degrees C, a circuit cuts the charge, leaving you to think that the battery is full while it isn’t. The estimated optimal temperature is 20 degrees C; as we will see later on, temperature is an important element in the life of a battery. Therefore one must be particularly attentive to this detail."

http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/laptops-lithium-ion-batteries,review-2393-5.html

Since my 4S gets warmer when using a higher amperage charger, I wonder if this is part of the reason it is degrading the overall life.

 

[legioxi]

My latest battery is only 3 months old. Read.

I've used an iPad charger on every phone I've owned since I bought an iPad. We use a single charging spot in the house for 2 iPads, 2 iPhones and 1 iPod Touch. None of the devices have had battery issues, most are 1-2 years old before they're replaced with a new version.

I don't use it for faster iPhone charging (doesn't go faster on older models). I use it so the iPads can use the same charging spot without swapping adapters.

Extra adapters are kept in backpacks and luggage for traveling.

 

[Imory]

Its clear no one here understands Li-Ion battery chemistry. I've been following this stuff for a while now for EVs (I drive a Volt).

A Li-Ion battery's usable life is determined by three variables - calendar life, cycle life, and charging rate (measured in "C" which is the ratio between charging rate and battery capacity in mAh - so "1C" is discharging or recharging the battery in 1 hour, 0.5 is two hours, and 2C is 30 minutes).

Recent research from Stanford Univ. has shown the effects of "slow charging" to be overstated, and the effects of fast-charging less harmful than originally thought.

Recharging an iPhone 5S at 1A is about .63C (1000mA / 1570mAh). Recharging an iPhone 6 Plus at 2.1A is .71C (2100mA / 2950mA). The difference there is not enough to dramatically effect the lifespan of the battery cell. The 6 has a higher charge rate of 1.16C, but I don't beleive that its very harmful to the battery and the higher charge rate will not shorten the overall lifespan of the battery. For reference, recharging an iPad Air at 2.1A is .24C ( 2100mA / 8820mAh).

Its not until you go over 2C that you start to see substantial impacts. Even Tesla owners who fast-charge frequently still have 99% original battery capacity after more than 100 cycles.

While I agree with you and everyone else that the device itself determines how much power it can draw, I do wonder if the phone might generate more heat by charging faster and using more watts? Heat is detrimental to batteries in general and I wonder if that might be a significant factor when people who supposedly experience worse batteries by using the iPad charger?

 

[sjwr]

don't be stupid, your iPad battery is designed for that specific amperage. The iPhone is not - ask yourself this. If it was good for the iPhone battery to take higher amps would Apple not give you a higher amp charger?

I mean:

1. They could standardise to a single charger for all products.
2. Happy customers because their phones charge super fast.

Common sense people!

At the risk of being called stupid, I would have expected Apple to build in same current limiting as previous iPhones, if iPad charger was expected to cause significant degradation in battery life - or lots of warnings not to use iPad charger.

 

[Daniel L]

Its hardly anecdotal when I am on my 3rd battery in 3 years. The first one, using the right charger, lasted a good time. The second with a higher amperage a lot less and already I can tell the 3rd was/is going the same way. So much so that literally since last week I have been ensuring that I use the correct charger. There is a noticeable heat difference when charging between the two chargers. I have noticed a better all day lifetime since going back to the 1A charger. Though it is early days as it has only been circa a week.

Well that just makes no sense. Your 4S battery started to suck because it's old and getting older. We're talking about the possibility of long-term damage, so switching back the 1A and everything getting better is nothing but placebo.

EDIT: Okay, I now see you've had it replaced several times so it's not an old battery.

Either way, this is easy to solve: someone needs to measure the current draw on both chargers with an iPhone 5S or below.

The older iPhones don't draw more than 1AMP so the effect must be in your head (*eenuuk). It's proven here thanks to 2IS (the same guy that posted the pictures used for this article):
https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/1785460/

The 6+ has double the capacity of the 5(s) battery, surely it can withstand more current.

 

[ptb42]

The charging circuit controls how much it wishes to draw. The charger does not decide how much to push.

The iPhone is entirely in control of how much juice it pulls, thus it is also clearly designed this way. Unless you're claiming to know something that the engineers who designed the thing don't.

Thank you, you explained it well. I'm amazed at how many people think they are electrical engineers.

I'll add that the charging circuitry in the iPhone (or iPad, or whatever) regulates the amperage/wattage. The wall-wart simply converts the voltage. It has a maximum capacity, but doesn't actually control the charging amperage/wattage.

Think about it this way: if the iPhone didn't regulate the charge rate, what would happen when your battery is fully charged? If the current remained at maximum, all of the excess power would be converted to heat, with disastrous effects on the battery and the phone.

In truth, there's a lot more to Li-Ion battery charging than just applying the current:

http://www.digikey.com/en/articles/techzone/2012/sep/a-designers-guide-to-lithium-battery-charging

 

[AlecZ]

It maybe safe, but it is not good for the battery to do this. I swear the quality of MR reporting his hitting rock bottom recently. I mean is this article for real?

Any device will charge quicker if you pump up the amps. Likewise it will charge slower if you use less amps. I don't recommend anyone does this regularly.

The iPhone decides what to draw. If what you said is true, the iPhone is flawed (not that I'm ruling that out). If you give it a charger capable of producing massive current, the device is still only going to use whatever its safe maximum is.

----------

Actually, it is fine to do this. Apple officially supports using the 12W adapter for iPod 4th gen. and newer, and all iPhone and iPad models. On the flip side, charging your iPad with a charger that supplies less current that what it needs will damage your device.

I swear the contempt of MR readers sure has skyrocketed recently. I mean, are these people for real?

I don't think this is really true unless you count the damage the battery will take from running out of charge frequently. With a low-amperage charger, the iPad can lose charge while it's plugged in and in use.