The iPhone 16 could charge faster than Apple is letting on
One of the main criticisms levied at Apple’s iPhones is how slow it charges compared to the competition. There are many Android devices out there that support at least 50W, if not higher. Some even go above 100W! The good news is that the upcoming iPhone 16 series will charge faster than Apple let on.
During the announcement, Apple made no mention of wired charging speeds. The current iPhone 15 base model charges at 20W, while the iPhone 15 Pro Max goes up to around 29W. However, the iPhone 16 series will apparently be capable of hitting charging speeds of up to 45W. This is quite a significant step up.
This is based on certification data for the iPhone 16 series where the listing mentions a maximum speed of 45W. However, keep in mind that you might need a more powerful charger. Since Apple no longer ships their iPhones with chargers, you might have to buy one of the more powerful MacBook chargers if you want to hit those speeds.
There is one thing to note, though. The 45W maximum speed isn’t necessarily 100% true. It’s not a lie by any means, but rather you probably won’t get a consistent 45W. Typically speaking the faster speeds kick in when your phone’s battery is nearly empty. Speeds usually drop around the 50% mark, and drop further at 80%.
This means that in theory, you could charge the iPhone 16 faster from 0-50%, but after that the speeds could taper out. So now you’ll have to decide if the faster speeds matter enough for you to pay for a more powerful (and more expensive) charger.