A much-needed iPhone 15 charging boost could be on the way, as 9to5Mac claims it has sources confirming Apple's giving the upcoming iPhones 35W wired charging capabilities.
For context, the iPhone 14 can charge at a 20W maximum, with the iPhone 14 Pro models unofficially able to charge at a slightly quicker 27W if you have a powerful-enough charger. Both of these are still pretty slow though, requiring multiple hours of charging to completely fill empty iPhone batteries. This is additionally frustrating when you consider that this charging standard, as well as Apple's 15W MagSafe wireless standard, haven't improved since they were introduced on the iPhone 12.
The speedier charging could have been enabled by the iPhone 15's USB-C port, another change that's been rumored for this year. As well as offering a standardized port in line with other smartphones and other Apple devices like iPads and MacBooks, and the potentially faster charging we've just mentioned, we've also heard that these new USB-C ports could give the iPhone 15 Thunderbolt data and power transfer speeds.
New iPhone 15 speeds means new chargers
All this also prompts the question of chargers. Apple sells a 35W twin-ported USB-C charger as well as a single 30W USB-C one, but these are quite a bit chunkier than the 20W charger iPhones have been offered in the past. We'd imagine Apple would bring out a new slim 35W power brick to accompany the new iPhones if they do indeed charge faster than before, but that still means iPhone 15 buyers would need to get a new charger in order to use their phone's full potential.
Overall though, faster charging for the iPhone 15 would be an important upgrade to keep Apple from slipping too far behind the best Android phones, several of which are capable of charging at four times the speed of an iPhone. It would also be a well-timed improvement if rumors of Apple increasing battery sizes for all iPhone 15 models turns out to be true, as that would mean even more milliamp-hours to fill at the same sluggish speeds as before
Unless more sources come forward to back up 9to5Mac's claims, the best we can do is wait for the rumored Apple September event on September 12 and see if Apple's keynote mentions the charging speed changes. If you watch it too, keep an eye out for other big rumored upgrades like the iPhone 15 Pro Action button and iPhone 15 Pro Max's periscope zoom camera.
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