iPhone 6S not drawing more than 1A of current?

[TapioR]

I bought a Blitzwolf "Power3S 24W Dual-Port Smart Wall Charger" recently to be able to charge my 6S faster. To my surprise, it was not able to charge my iPhone any quicker than the original 1A iPhone charger. Sent an email to Blitzwolf support, complaining that there's something wrong with the charger and they replied:

"The iPhone 6S can only charge at a max current of 1A, that has been limited by Apple. The 6, 6Plus and 6S plus can charge above 1A."

I then tried charging my 6S also with an iPad charger, borrowed from a friend, and I could confirm that not even that charger was able to charge my 6S any quicker.

Why would Apple have suddenly limited the 6S to draw only 1A, when it seems that the consensus is that faster charging does not damage the battery of the iPhone 6?

I did my best to search for info online, even before buying the Blitzwolf, but I was not able to find any information about successful or unsuccessful "quick charging" of the 6S.

 

[Newtons Apple]

I think it is a good thing that Apple regulates the speed of charging. They have been doing it for a while.

 

[zhenya]

The 6 and 6s are the same. Charging current to the battery is limited, but any additional power available from the charger may be used to power the phone such that with higher current chargers the battery will always charge at full rate even if he screen is on, gps is being used, or you are playing a game. The plus models can accept some of that extra current directly into the battery.

 

[I7guy]

My iPad brick charges my phone faster than my computer USB connection, which should charge at the same rate of the small brick.

 

[Newtons Apple]

My iPad brick charges my phone faster than my computer USB connection, which should charge at the same rate of the small brick.

No so. It depends on how much current your USB port is producing. They can vary from port to port on your computer.

 

[I7guy]

No so. It depends on how much current your USB port is producing. They can vary from port to port on your computer.

USB port puts out 1a according to system specs.

 

[Newtons Apple]

USB port puts out 1a according to system specs.

Like I said some do and some fall way short. Never had a lot of luck charging via USB with any of my computers. For that reason I prefer the large brick.

 

[I7guy]

Like I said some do and some fall way short. Never had a lot of luck charging via USB with any of my computers. For that reason I prefer the large brick.

Either way anecdotally my iPad brick charges faster than my iPhone small brick. So I'm not sure why it would based on info in this thread.

 

[Newtons Apple]

Either way anecdotally my iPad brick charges faster than my iPhone small brick. So I'm not sure why it would based on info in this thread.

Mine does too. The small brick that comes with the phone will hardly even charge your phone if you are using it. The larger brick has more capacity to apply the max amount to your batter with reserve left for actually using the phone.

The whole point of the thread is that Apple has decided the max amount going to the battery and it is not decided by what charger you are using.

 

[imagineadam]

Maybe it has to do with the "C-rate" being a little too high in the 6S since its battery capacity is a little less at 1715mAH compared to the 6 at 1810mAH. According to what I read the C-rate of the iPhone 6 is already at 1.16C when battery makers reccomend to charge below 1C. I'm guessing the C-rate is simply too high and would put too much stress on the battery so that's why they are only allow the 6S to intake the 1A.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/eliseac...-damage-your-iphone-6-or-6-plus/#26fecbc8270c

 

[zhenya]

Maybe it has to do with the "C-rate" being a little too high in the 6S since its battery capacity is a little less at 1715mAH compared to the 6 at 1810mAH. According to what I read the C-rate of the iPhone 6 is already at 1.16C when battery makers reccomend to charge below 1C. I'm guessing the C-rate is simply too high and would put too much stress on the battery so that's why they are only allow the 6S to intake the 1A.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/eliseac...-damage-your-iphone-6-or-6-plus/#26fecbc8270c

If the charger is limiting the charge rate to 1 amp for the iPhone 6/6s, then the c-rate is .58 for the 6s, .55 for the 6. The full 2.1 amps from an iPad charger is not going into the battery, anything above ~1 amp is going to power the device.

 

[imagineadam]

If the charger is limiting the charge rate to 1 amp for the iPhone 6/6s, then the c-rate is .58 for the 6s, .55 for the 6. The full 2.1 amps from an iPad charger is not going into the battery, anything above ~1 amp is going to power the device.

From the article.


"Isidor Buchmann, founder and CEO of Cadex Electronics and author of “Batteries in a Portable World,” explains a key measurement that determines how much charge a phone can safely receive is the C-rate, or the rate at which a battery charges or discharges. To determine a C-rate, simply take the ratio between the charging rate and the capacity of the battery as measured in mAh or milliampere-hours. For an iPhone 6 that is being charged with the iPad charger, the C-rate is 2100mA/1810mAh or 1.16C. For an iPhone 6 Plus, the C-rate is 2100mA/2915mAh or .72C.

Most portable batteries are rated at 1C. This puts the C-rate that we calculated for the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus in the safety zone. ”A battery manufacturer would recommend a rate below 1C,” Buchmann said. But a rate that is just barely above 1C is nothing to be concerned about, he added."

I've charged my iPhone 6 with the 12w charger and it charged at about 1334mAH. (using batterylife app jailbroken) When using the standard charger it would sometimes hit just over 1003 mAH but usually would hang just under around 983mAH or so. This tells me that the iPhone 6 does allow faster charging with the 12w adapter.

I'd be interested to see what in fact the 6S would be able to intake but I don't have one. But I do think with what I originally wrote from what I've read that it's probably because of the the total mAH of the iPhone 6S battery that they decided it probably wasn't safe to allow it to take more than 1A charge for wear and tear purposes. I'm thinking the iPhone 6 was already right at that iffy spot where they weren't real sure if they'd allow it to intake a little more charge (w the 12w) and they did anyway and decided not to with the 6S. Who knows.

 

[C DM]

All of this seems to go against a lot of threads and articles about iPhone 6 and 6 Plus and also 6s and 6s Plus being able to charge the battery at more than 1A and this faster (when not being used).

 

[zhenya]

From the article.


"Isidor Buchmann, founder and CEO of Cadex Electronics and author of “Batteries in a Portable World,” explains a key measurement that determines how much charge a phone can safely receive is the C-rate, or the rate at which a battery charges or discharges. To determine a C-rate, simply take the ratio between the charging rate and the capacity of the battery as measured in mAh or milliampere-hours. For an iPhone 6 that is being charged with the iPad charger, the C-rate is 2100mA/1810mAh or 1.16C. For an iPhone 6 Plus, the C-rate is 2100mA/2915mAh or .72C.

Most portable batteries are rated at 1C. This puts the C-rate that we calculated for the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus in the safety zone. ”A battery manufacturer would recommend a rate below 1C,” Buchmann said. But a rate that is just barely above 1C is nothing to be concerned about, he added."

I've charged my iPhone 6 with the 12w charger and it charged at about 1334mAH. (using batterylife app jailbroken) When using the standard charger it would sometimes hit just over 1003 mAH but usually would hang just under around 983mAH or so. This tells me that the iPhone 6 does allow faster charging with the 12w adapter.

I'd be interested to see what in fact the 6S would be able to intake but I don't have one. But I do think with what I originally wrote from what I've read that it's probably because of the the total mAH of the iPhone 6S battery that they decided it probably wasn't safe to allow it to take more than 1A charge for wear and tear purposes. I'm thinking the iPhone 6 was already right at that iffy spot where they weren't real sure if they'd allow it to intake a little more charge (w the 12w) and they did anyway and decided not to with the 6S. Who knows.

There is an extensive thread here where all of this has been tested. The 6/6s never takes more than 1a into the battery. When presented with a more powerful charger it will use that extra current to power the phone, while continuing to put a full 1a into the battery. This can have the effect of making the battery charge 'faster' as there are no losses going to power the phone as there would be on a 1a charger if the phone was doing anything other than idling with the screen off. This is a distinct change from the 5s and earlier. No phone is getting the full 2.1a into the battery as stated in that article.