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It's faster to charge your iPhone 7 via a Macbook

S

sethlution

macrumors regular
Original poster
Dec 13, 2011
202
48
I've always suspected it but today I found out that it's faster to charge my iPhone 7Plus via my MacBook Pro USB 3 port than with the provided charger (10W vs 5W). I don't know if this is true for older iPhone model as well.

It just seems weird that Apple doesn't include a 10W charger in the box. I've barely used my iPhone 5W charger at all, instead charging it via my iPad charger unless I need to charge both at the same time.
 
I don't know which is faster because I never charge my iPhone with my MacBook.

I've 3 of the iPad sized chargers, so I just use one of those to charge my iPhone and it charges up pretty quickly.
 
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I'm pretty sure all iPhones after and including the 6 have the ability to charge faster when using an iPad 10/12w charger.

People used to swear their 5s charged faster too, until people pointed out it was pure placebo, as the phone didn't have the necessary hardware inside to draw higher currents!
 
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sethlution said:
I've always suspected it but today I found out that it's faster to charge my iPhone 7Plus via my MacBook Pro USB 3 port than with the provided charger (10W vs 5W). I don't know if this is true for older iPhone model as well.

It just seems weird that Apple doesn't include a 10W charger in the box. I've barely used my iPhone 5W charger at all, instead charging it via my iPad charger unless I need to charge both at the same time.
Click to expand...

USB 3 will charge faster than a 5W charger, but charge slower than a 10W charger. My iPhone and iPad charge the fastest with a 10/12W brick.

Edit for typo.
 
Last edited:
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My car charger charges faster then the 5w it came with. But I really only plug my phone in at night for the most part so it doesn't really bother me how long it takes. But for people that charges all the time, hopefully they add a 10w or some type of fast charger on the next iPhones.
 
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Azzin said:
I'm pretty sure all iPhones after and including the 6 have the ability to charge faster when using an iPad 10/12w charger.

People used to swear their 5s charged faster too, until people pointed out it was pure placebo, as the phone didn't have the necessary hardware inside to draw higher currents!
Click to expand...
It's not a placebo effect. What it is is not taking into account everything you are doing while charging. The 5s did charge faster because the ipad power adapters have enough wattage to both charge and run the phone at same time without reducing the amount of charge current going to battery.

If you turn phone off and charge you won't see any difference in charge time from the 5 watt power adapter to the 10 or 12 watt ipad power adapter.

If you have phone on, radios are working using current, display may be on, and if you are doing some processor intensive function, most of the current from the 5 watt power adapter is going to run the phone. leaving very little to charge the battery.

By using the ipad power adapters you could get as much wattage going to the charge circuit as possible for that phone. It's true it would not charge faster than components allowed. But it did charge faster than what was left available to charge when being used.

The current phones allow using more wattage for charging such that I see almost, but not quit, half the time to charge using a higher cpacity power adapter.
 
HEK said:
It's not a placebo effect. What it is is not taking into account everything you are doing while charging. The 5s did charge faster because the ipad power adapters have enough wattage to both charge and run the phone at same time without reducing the amount of charge current going to battery.

If you turn phone off and charge you won't see any difference in charge time from the 5 watt power adapter to the 10 or 12 watt ipad power adapter.

If you have phone on, radios are working using current, display may be on, and if you are doing some processor intensive function, most of the current from the 5 watt power adapter is going to run the phone. leaving very little to charge the battery.

By using the ipad power adapters you could get as much wattage going to the charge circuit as possible for that phone. It's true it would not charge faster than components allowed. But it did charge faster than what was left available to charge when being used.

The current phones allow using more wattage for charging such that I see almost, but not quit, half the time to charge using a higher cpacity power adapter.
Click to expand...
It's been tested. The 5S and earlier will never draw more than 5W from a power adapter regardless of what the load is.
 
terraphantm said:
It's been tested. The 5S and earlier will never draw more than 5W from a power adapter regardless of what the load is.
Click to expand...
Still don't get it. If you are using three watts to run the phone, it only leaves 2 watts going to recharge battery.

If you use a larger power adapter than you have a reserve such that the battery charging circuit gets it's 5 watts even as the phone screen and radios may draw their own wattage requirements. I had the 5s and saw that when i was using the phone while charging the rate of charge was faster when i used the ipad power adapters. If the phone was turned off it made no difference.
 
HEK said:
It's not a placebo effect. What it is is not taking into account everything you are doing while charging. The 5s did charge faster because the ipad power adapters have enough wattage to both charge and run the phone at same time without reducing the amount of charge current going to battery.

If you turn phone off and charge you won't see any difference in charge time from the 5 watt power adapter to the 10 or 12 watt ipad power adapter.

If you have phone on, radios are working using current, display may be on, and if you are doing some processor intensive function, most of the current from the 5 watt power adapter is going to run the phone. leaving very little to charge the battery.

By using the ipad power adapters you could get as much wattage going to the charge circuit as possible for that phone. It's true it would not charge faster than components allowed. But it did charge faster than what was left available to charge when being used.

The current phones allow using more wattage for charging such that I see almost, but not quit, half the time to charge using a higher cpacity power adapter.
Click to expand...
You are simply wrong I'm afraid.

The 5S does not have the necessary hardware inside to draw a higher charge.

The end.
 
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Azzin said:
You are simply wrong I'm afraid.

The 5S does not have the necessary hardware inside to draw a higher charge.

The end.
Click to expand...
Still not saying it could charge at higher rate. Oh well, pointless really as years past the point i can try it again. Went to the 6, 6s and using the 7 now.
 
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sethlution said:
I've always suspected it but today I found out that it's faster to charge my iPhone 7Plus via my MacBook Pro USB 3 port than with the provided charger (10W vs 5W). I don't know if this is true for older iPhone model as well.

It just seems weird that Apple doesn't include a 10W charger in the box. I've barely used my iPhone 5W charger at all, instead charging it via my iPad charger unless I need to charge both at the same time.
Click to expand...

I always charge my phone from my laptop when I am out and on the go, because it not only charges faster, but because it can charge while the laptop is sleeping and closed, and barely drains the laptop battery. Saves from leaving charging cables and AC adapters everywhere.
 
HEK said:
Still not saying it could charge at higher rate. Oh well, pointless really as years past the point i can try it again. Went to the 6, 6s and using the 7 now.
Click to expand...
It sounds what the other user was saying was about how much can be drawn/accepted by the device, not really about hoe much can be used for charging. That if the device can't draw more than 5w then that's all it has to distribute between charging and working--meaning that if 2w are used for working then there aren't 5w that could still be used for charging (since that means being able to draw at least 7w), and just 3w are left for charging (as only 5w total can be drawn at most).
 
HEK said:
Still don't get it. If you are using three watts to run the phone, it only leaves 2 watts going to recharge battery.

If you use a larger power adapter than you have a reserve such that the battery charging circuit gets it's 5 watts even as the phone screen and radios may draw their own wattage requirements. I had the 5s and saw that when i was using the phone while charging the rate of charge was faster when i used the ipad power adapters. If the phone was turned off it made no difference.
Click to expand...
The device itself won't draw more power regardless of how much power it's using. Any observations to the contrary are placebo. So yes, if the device is using 3 watts to do whatever it's doing, only 2 watts will be available to charge the phone. And if you manage to consume more than 5w, then the power will drop even while plugged in.

With the 6 and newer, that limit is about 10W
 
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