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Would have been interesting to see the effect of using a USB C charger with a USB C to USB A adapter, then using a USB A to Lightning cable.
 
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Great article! But I was hoping for a section on how each level effects the life/health of the battery. I seem to recall that on older phones it wasn’t recommended to use an iPad charger? Has that changed with the X and the 8 line?
 
Very informative. I have a 6-port USB charger with one fast charging port from Anker that I originally bought for when I travel. I use it at home now to charge my iPhone, iPad, Watch, and Bluetooth speaker, headphones, and earbuds at the same time, as needed. Easy for me.

Wireless charging is cool, but not really worth it since I can’t use my iPhone when it’s charging on the pad and I charge overnight anyway. If wireless charging was a lot faster I could see using it for quick boosts when needed. As is, I’m not missing anything.
 
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I realize I'm presenting the data here a little unconventionally, but I liked that I was able to show exact percentages while also giving an overall picture of the difference in charging speed. For anyone who wants to take my data and whip up other charts, I'm more than happy to provide it. Just let me know!
Sure, data incoming. Please share them here!
I'd be inte
Sure, data incoming. Please share them here!
I'd also be interested in graphing the data, could you please share?
 
The one I'm interested in is if charging is faster using the usb-c to lightning cable with a macbook pro computer (while charging or battery power)
 
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The one I'm interested in is if charging is faster using the usb-c to lightning cable with a macbook pro computer (while charging or battery power)

Faster than what? The maximum output of the ports on the MacBook Pro is 15W, so it wouldn't quite match the charging speeds with the USB-C power adapters.
 
I realize I'm presenting the data here a little unconventionally, but I liked that I was able to show [...]
Well, you did show a prime example of how not to present data: never draw a line between data points that have absolutely nothing to do with each other. For example, in the first chart, what is it supposed to mean when the 60 minute line crosses the 60 % mark between 7.5 W wireless and 12 W wired? 10 W semi-wired?

Apart from that, thanks for all the work that went into the article, much appreciated!
 
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This is the sample test I have been waiting for. Going to stick with my Ipad charger for now until wireless charging gets to the 12w plus for charging.

Even 12W wireless is still going to be substantially slower than connected charging.

Look at the difference between 7.5W wireless and 12W wired. Be aware that wireless loses several watts of power due to heat energy loss. So your 7.5W wireless is really only feeding about 5W of power into the phone, while the rest is lost to heat.

While you will see a slight improvement with 12W wireless over 7.5W, it will be very small, like the one from 5W wireless to 7.5W. It won't be the bigger jump you see from the 12W wired.
 
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Is it a cost reason why Apple doesn't just provide iPhones with 12 watt or higher charging plugs to begin with?
No. It would make the iPhone box too big :p

I understand if people want to get a quick top up during the day where quick charging will give a quicker boost, but for overnight charging I wouldn't use fast charge all the time. Fast charging causes more stress on the battery.
 
Anyone else think when wireless charging first came out that they were talking about truly wireless charging? Not this pad crap?
.

Uh, not me. It's basic, applied physics - unless you're using lasers or other focused-beam methods, the farther the device is from the source of power, the more power is dispersed/wasted. Since focused-beam methods are more easily interrupted and have higher energy densities, they involve greater biological risks and can be significant sources of electrical interference to anything in their path.

To me, the "pad crap" is the only practical solution to the problem. There's a minimum of energy wasted, it provides a modest improvement in user convenience (no plug/un-plug), and reduces/eliminates wear-and-tear on a physical power connector. It's hardly a giant leap forward - inductive coupling is very old tech. The same laws of physics that limited its practical use in Tesla's day continue today.
 
Does anyone know the wattage for the thunderbolt 3 port on the 2017 27" iMac? I bet it would fast charge an iPhone X.
 
Anyone else think when wireless charging first came out that they were talking about truly wireless charging? Not this pad crap?
.

Probably because there's this 'thing' in many people's mind that apple 'just does everything better'. And apple 'waits to do something so they can do it right'.

But basically, apple's wireless charging is like all that has come before it with nothing new brought to the table.
 
This was a great article, thank you. I've basically thrown away the tiny bricks that come with the iPhones. I use the 12W iPad adapter I got with my iPad, and a nice Anker for in the car.

What is the battery life you are seeing on your iPhone when using the iPad charger? I heard that charging my iPhone with the 12W iPad charger was not recommended. I have an iPhone 6.
 
I presume the female USB-A ports on Apple products (MBP, iMac, Thunderbolt Display, etc.) max out at 2,100 mA, so this would be similar to using the iPad charger? Anyone know the max wattage of a newer MacBook Pro USB-C port when charging via a USB-C to Lightning?
 

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X ships with worst charging option. Complete fail.

Nickel and diming at its worse.
If they shipped the X with the best charger, there would be no market for third party chargers as they would be slower...
unless third party manufacturers made faster, better chargers! ...but that would then make the ‘best’ charger shipped with the X, the worst again...and thus, the circle is complete!
 
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Look at the difference between 7.5W wireless and 12W wired. Be aware that wireless loses several watts of power due to heat energy loss. So your 7.5W wireless is really only feeding about 5W of power into the phone, while the rest is lost to heat.

not sure where you are getting your info.

looking at the chart, there is barely any difference between 5W wired and wireless.

the difference between 7.5W wireless and 5W wired is much bigger.
 
Nice article. I was about to pull the trigger on the Samsung convertible fast charger wireless pad (EP-PG950), but decided just to wait for the AirPower. Since I have an AW3, I figured the added benefit to being able to charge my watch at work would be handy. I'm guessing, and it's probably a bad assumption, that the AirPower will come with the USB-C adapter and cord to power it, so I am hoping that cost is part of the AirPower's overall cost, as I'm expecting it to be fairly expensive. If that's the case, I'm also hoping that the interface between the USB-C adapter and the AirPower is a USB-C to Lightning cable (although I'm assuming it will be USB-C to USB-C). This would basically give you the option of using wireless charging, or unplugging the AirPower, and fast charging your iPhone...No one has been able to confirm what the connection is on the AirPower side, from the research I've done.

With that in mind, I just opted to buy an Anker PowerPort 2 USB adapter for my travel bag. I thought about investing in USB-C, but it did not make sense, because I would also need a way to charge my AW at the same time, while on travel. I did some tests with the 12W Apple iPad adapter I've had for several years, and it appears to charge around 10W in most cases with my iPhone X. I figure this is a good compromise between fast charging, and preserving overall battery longevity.
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not sure where you are getting your info.

looking at the chart, there is barely any difference between 5W wired and wireless.

the difference between 7.5W wireless and 5W wired is much bigger.

Exactly, when they talk about the "power" of wireless charging, I'm about 95% sure they refer to the "power" being applied to the phone to charge. So while there are inefficiencies in wireless charging, the actual power going into the charging coil is the one that is not talked about. In other words, to get 7.5W on the device side, we may be putting 8W into the primary coil.
 
does USB C support higher amps, why does it have to usb c to go fast? does the iphone 7 support this?

btw these graphs hurt my head.. why would you put the charger models along the x axis and time on the y..
 
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