Standard Charger vs iPad vs MacBook

We used a single pair of iPhone in all tests, an iPhone XS and XS Max; moreover, we did not do any software or deliberate hardware between tests to obtain immaculate data. In addition to the standard chargers and lighting cables found in the original boxes, we also got a standard 12-W iPad charger for $ 19, and finally a charger. fast USBBook C of 87 W, 2016, 2017, 2018 coupled. with a USB-C to Lighting cable, which you must purchase separately from Apple. No problem, but it would produce the best results although the overall total of $ 79 for the charger and $ 19 / $ 35 for variations of 1 or 2 meters of the USB-C cable to Lighting makes this solution quite expensive.

Do not forget that new iPhones naturally can not receive the enormous 87-watt input that the brick is capable of producing. It looks like the phones are capped at 18W similar to the iPhone X from last yearThis means that whether you choose a 29W, 30W, 61W or 87W AC adapter, you should be able to reach the advertised charging speeds. Since we had a brick of 87W, we used this one, but you should expect similar results with the MacBook loads mentioned above.

The results

Well, enough conspiracy, it's time for the raw data to arrive! Here is what we discovered.

iPhone XS

As you can see, the results reveal a rather unambiguous story. The iPhone charger in stock is traditionally the slowest, the most difficult when you need a quick reload, and is especially suitable for long loading costs. In all honesty, charging your iPhone during your daily efforts is rarely a pleasant experience, but the 12W charger for iPad proves that it should not be so tedious – it took about 30 minutes less to this one . charge our iPhone XS up to 50%, which represents a clear improvement. Looking at the 87W MacBook charger, it loads naturally the fastest, and we managed to eliminate 2 minutes of the announced 50% battery charge in 30 minutes.

As far as full charges are concerned, the trends remained almost unchanged: the stock charger was very slow, the MacBook charger worked beautifully, and the iPad charger was a good compromise.

iPhone XS Max

What about the biggest iPhone XS Max? With its larger battery, it naturally takes a little more to reach the same battery level as its more compact counterpart. The standard charger would halve the battery level in 1 hour and 31 minutes, which is sloooooooooowbut do you know5 what is slower? Indeed, the stock charger goes from 0% to 100% for the full turn, which represents an effort of 3 hours and 23 minutes. To put things in perspective, the cult classic critically acclaimed The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King run for 3 hours and 20 minutes, so take popcorn and watch it if you have not done it while charging your device.

Meanwhile, the iPad 12W charger is much better. Charge in less than an hour and you will get about 50% of the battery charge in your phone; leave it plugged in for 2 hours and 40 minutes and your phone will be fully charged.

The 87-watt MacBook charger surprises once again – a 30-minute recharge allows you to reach 50%, while a full charge only takes 2 hours, which is much easier to handle than does allowed the original charger.

conclusions

Our test solidifies more notions in flight:

1) fast loading is great;
2) the standard charger for iPhone 5W is inexcusably slow.

Of course, Apple does not usually sell more powerful phone accessories separately, as many manufacturers did, even before the iPhones recorded a fast charge. However, it shows how much the standard 5W charging brick is lagging behind the backs of all its Apple brand brethren, especially the iPad chargers that look more and more appealing.