Apple's mini 18W USB-C charger may be real after all

AppleInsiderAppleInsider
Posted:
in iPhone
Rumors of a more powerful 18-Watt USB-C wall charger supposedly being bundled with this fall's iPhone releases have been bolstered, with the surfacing of photographs appearing to depict an engineering sample of the alleged accessory.




Photographs published by Chongdiantou and spotted by Macotakara show the charging plug from three different angles. Along with showing the side and plug prongs in one shot, a second simply shows the USB-C connection at the top of the device, where the USB-C to Lightning connector would be inserted.

The third photograph is blurry but readable, showing it to be an engineering sample. At the bottom the output data claims it can provide up to 5 Volts of power at 3 Amps, equating to 15 Watts delivered to the iPhone, or for 9V to be delivered at 2A, namely 18W.




While this is one of the first credible photographs of the rumored charger, there is no guarantee that it is genuine. A May report included alleged renderings of the European version of the iPhone charger, again offering 18W of power.

Currently, iPhones ship with the same 5W USB-A charger, despite the iPhone 8, iPhone 8 Plus, and iPhone X all supporting Fast Charging, using a USB-C to Lightning cable and a charger with a higher wattage. Fast Charging allows an iPhone to charge to 50 percent of capacity within 30 minutes, which is currently possible using the USB-C wall charger supplied with the MacBook or MacBook Pro, albeit at a relatively high cost.

If Apple does include a USB-C charger with future iPhones, it could also allow third-party accessory producers to create more cables. Apple currently does not allow other vendors to create USB-C to Lightning cables under the MFi certification program, but this stands to change if the rumored charger is included in the iPhone package.
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Comments

  • Reply 1 of 33
    melgrossmelgross Posts: 33,600member
    As the batteries in the iPhone and iPad have increased over the years, the only concession to that was going from 10 Watts to 12 Watts for the iPad. Fortunately, we’ve bought so many iPads over the years, that we never use the iphone 5 watt chargers. I’ve got a bunch in a draw, and give them away to people who lose their chargers.

    i bought the 29 watt Macbook charger along the long cable for it, but it’s not a real solution for most people because it costs $49 for that charger, and cost, when I bought it, $39 for the long Lightning to USB C cable.

    sometimes Apple takes years to do something they obviously needed to do.
    edited July 2018 MplsPwelshdogairnerdSgt Storms(trooper)doozydozenAlex1Nmuthuk_vanalingam
  • Reply 2 of 33
    nunzynunzy Posts: 662member
    Why should Apple give these away for free when they can make a good margin selling them? I guess they think that they will sell enough of additional iPhone to make up the profit and even make some more.
    SoundJudgment
  • Reply 3 of 33
    MplsPMplsP Posts: 4,000member
    nunzy said:
    Why should Apple give these away for free when they can make a good margin selling them? I guess they think that they will sell enough of additional iPhone to make up the profit and even make some more.
    You could ask the same question about including headphones or even make the argument not to include an adapter or cable at all because 'virtually everyone has one already and this let's people only pay for what they need.'

    Apple sells premium phones at a premium price. As such, I don't expect to get a crippled, underpowered adapter that doesn't take advantage of the phone's capabilities. It's kind of like paying for first class and then having the flight attendant saying you need to pay for a drink.

    Why couldn't they do fast charging with USB A? The big problem with switching to a USB C to lightning cable is that it would be incompatible with virtually every charging port in the world right now without an adapter. (Although based on the lack of USB A ports in the MacBooks, convenience  & compatibility are not high on Apples list of priorities.)

    edited July 2018 gutengelairnerdnunzySgt Storms(trooper)SoundJudgmentdoozydozenAlex1N
  • Reply 4 of 33
    Eric_WVGGEric_WVGG Posts: 972member
    It's about time.
    Sgt Storms(trooper)
  • Reply 5 of 33
    melgrossmelgross Posts: 33,600member
    nunzy said:
    Why should Apple give these away for free when they can make a good margin selling them? I guess they think that they will sell enough of additional iPhone to make up the profit and even make some more.
    Because it would be stupid to sell them. Apple’s charging times have been behind most Android phones for years. There’s no excuse for that, particularly at the prices. Those chargers were used with the first iPhone 10 years ago. The batteries are several times as large in the big models, and so charging times have gotten longer.
    nunzySgt Storms(trooper)doozydozenAlex1Nmuthuk_vanalingam
  • Reply 6 of 33
    mbenz1962mbenz1962 Posts: 173member
    I'm not sure I buy this rumor.  If apple bundled an 18W charger with every iDevice, that would simplfiy their portfolio and bring some additional econimies of scale to help with the cost, but Apple just released a 30W USB-C charger.  The only devices listed as compatable are recent iDevices, but currently only iPads Pro can take advantage of the full 14.5V @ 2Amp charging capability.  I can't imagine that people buying an iPhone would get an 18W charger and people buying an iPad wouldn't.  So, Apple would either have to sunset the 12W charger for the whole iPad line and hope there is a signifficant enough upsell rate for the market of Pro buyers (who would be receiving an 18W charger) to justify the engineering of the 30W charger just released, or Apple will bundle the 18W with the iPhone and normal iPad and the 30W with the new iPads pro. Both seem like an unusual proposition.
    Sgt Storms(trooper)doozydozen
  • Reply 7 of 33
    seankillseankill Posts: 567member
    nunzy said:
    Why should Apple give these away for free when they can make a good margin selling them? I guess they think that they will sell enough of additional iPhone to make up the profit and even make some more.
    How about stop being such a cheap-ass company and not worry about the extra $2 a higher end charger is going to cost when you sell $1,000 phones. 

    Its s a joke that iPhones ship with 5W chargers. They should at least ship the 12W iPad chargers with them. 
    airnerdSoundJudgmentavon b7nunzydoozydozenfastasleepwilliamlondonmuthuk_vanalingam
  • Reply 8 of 33
    foregoneconclusionforegoneconclusion Posts: 2,805member
    The Catch-22 for faster charging has always been the extra heat generated. Too much heat and you're degrading the life of the battery.
    Sgt Storms(trooper)Alex1Nmuthuk_vanalingam
  • Reply 9 of 33
    SoliSoli Posts: 10,038member
    1) This doesn’t look very Apple-y to me.

    2) I look forward to when Apple stops shipping a PSU with every device.
    chia
  • Reply 10 of 33
    SoliSoli Posts: 10,038member
    foregoneconclusion said:
    The Catch-22 for faster charging has always been the extra heat generated. Too much heat and you're degrading the life of the battery.
    I assume Apple is only steppimg CE charging speed improvements as battery tech improves.
  • Reply 11 of 33
    melgrossmelgross Posts: 33,600member
    mbenz1962 said:
    I'm not sure I buy this rumor.  If apple bundled an 18W charger with every iDevice, that would simplfiy their portfolio and bring some additional econimies of scale to help with the cost, but Apple just released a 30W USB-C charger.  The only devices listed as compatable are recent iDevices, but currently only iPads Pro can take advantage of the full 14.5V @ 2Amp charging capability.  I can't imagine that people buying an iPhone would get an 18W charger and people buying an iPad wouldn't.  So, Apple would either have to sunset the 12W charger for the whole iPad line and hope there is a signifficant enough upsell rate for the market of Pro buyers (who would be receiving an 18W charger) to justify the engineering of the 30W charger just released, or Apple will bundle the 18W with the iPhone and normal iPad and the 30W with the new iPads pro. Both seem like an unusual proposition.
    Apple has to do something. Maybe they will bundle the 30 watt with the iPad Pro. There’s just no excuse to be giving a vastly underpowered charger. That holds for the iPad Pro 12.9” in particular. My 29 watt Macbook charger charges both my 7+ and my iPad Pro 12.9” much faster.
    doozydozenAlex1N
  • Reply 12 of 33
    melgrossmelgross Posts: 33,600member

    flydog said:
    The author states in the title that this "charger may be real after all," but then states within the article itself "there is no guarantee that it is genuine."   Click bait at its finest.
    I see no problem in what he said. It does look real, and it’s possible it’s not. Where’s the problem? We all want a much faster charger.
    doozydozenAlex1N
  • Reply 13 of 33
    nunzynunzy Posts: 662member
    seankill said:
    nunzy said:
    Why should Apple give these away for free when they can make a good margin selling them? I guess they think that they will sell enough of additional iPhone to make up the profit and even make some more.
    How about stop being such a cheap-ass company and not worry about the extra $2 a higher end charger is going to cost when you sell $1,000 phones. 

    Its s a joke that iPhones ship with 5W chargers. They should at least ship the 12W iPad chargers with them. 
    You might think it's a joke, but Wall Street takes it very very seriously.
    edited July 2018
  • Reply 14 of 33
    nhtnht Posts: 4,522member
    MplsP said:
    nunzy said:
    Why should Apple give these away for free when they can make a good margin selling them? I guess they think that they will sell enough of additional iPhone to make up the profit and even make some more.
    You could ask the same question about including headphones or even make the argument not to include an adapter or cable at all because 'virtually everyone has one already and this let's people only pay for what they need.'

    Apple sells premium phones at a premium price. As such, I don't expect to get a crippled, underpowered adapter that doesn't take advantage of the phone's capabilities. It's kind of like paying for first class and then having the flight attendant saying you need to pay for a drink.

    Why couldn't they do fast charging with USB A? The big problem with switching to a USB C to lightning cable is that it would be incompatible with virtually every charging port in the world right now without an adapter. (Although based on the lack of USB A ports in the MacBooks, convenience  & compatibility are not high on Apples list of priorities.)

    Please don’t feed the troll.
    nunzyAlex1Nmuthuk_vanalingamCaffiend
  • Reply 15 of 33
    tallest skiltallest skil Posts: 43,388member
    melgross said:
    Because it would be stupid to sell them.
    When has that ever stopped Apple in the past? People willingly buy $40 adapters and cables.
    Alex1Nmuthuk_vanalingam
  • Reply 16 of 33
    melgrossmelgross Posts: 33,600member
    melgross said:
    Because it would be stupid to sell them.
    When has that ever stopped Apple in the past? People willingly buy $40 adapters and cables.
    Well, I would expect them to sell them as replacements as they do now with chargers and cables. People with phones and tablets that do a faster charge but that didn’t come with these chargers might buy them, depending on the cost.

    but I expect Apple to include them with the new generation of phones, at least. At least, in that Apple might not include them with older phones they still sell, such as my 7+, even though it does use the faster charging. I believe he was saying that Apple wouldn’t include them with the new phones, just the low power, older chargers, and require you to buy them even for the new models.

    yes, I did spend the $49 for the 29 watt Macbook charger, plus the cable. It was well worth the price.
    edited July 2018 Alex1N
  • Reply 17 of 33
    flydogflydog Posts: 1,138member
    melgross said:

    flydog said:
    The author states in the title that this "charger may be real after all," but then states within the article itself "there is no guarantee that it is genuine."   Click bait at its finest.
    I see no problem in what he said. It does look real, and it’s possible it’s not. Where’s the problem? We all want a much faster charger.
    The problem is that the title states that the charger may be real, which requires evidence of its existence other than photos that may or may not be genuine.  In other words, the conclusion requires the facts in the article to be valid, which the author concedes may not be. 

    A more honest title would have been "Photos of rumored 18W charger making the rounds online" 
    edited July 2018
  • Reply 18 of 33
    anomeanome Posts: 1,544member
    Soli said:
    1) This doesn’t look very Apple-y to me.

    2) I look forward to when Apple stops shipping a PSU with every device.


    1) It looks very similar to the 5W charger currently included with iPhones in the US. (Not sure about other markets, Australia only started getting that version a couple of years ago.)

    2) The instant they do that, everyone (yes, I mean everyone ) will start bitching about them nickel and diming, and having to buy a $30 - $80 charger in order to use their new device, and it not "working out of the box".

    Alex1N
  • Reply 19 of 33
    wizard69wizard69 Posts: 13,377member
    melgross said:
    nunzy said:
    Why should Apple give these away for free when they can make a good margin selling them? I guess they think that they will sell enough of additional iPhone to make up the profit and even make some more.
    Because it would be stupid to sell them. Apple’s charging times have been behind most Android phones for years. There’s no excuse for that, particularly at the prices. Those chargers were used with the first iPhone 10 years ago. The batteries are several times as large in the big models, and so charging times have gotten longer.
    Actually I suspect that Apples modest charging capacity relates to saving the battery.    After all if they have to offer extended warranties in other countries you might as well do what is required to make sure batteries don't fail early.
    Alex1N
  • Reply 20 of 33
    wizard69wizard69 Posts: 13,377member
    18 watts is pretty serious power and as such could make for decent power supplies for micro processor boards.    Sure that is a limited interest area but I can see these chargers having more long term value if Apple hasn't gone too far with port control.

    On another note how many here are frustrated by the lack of decent leaks about coming hardware?    We have basically seen nothing related to the Mac's, the Iphones, absolutely nothing iPad related, nothing watch related.    In other words pretty much nothing about the hardware we are all interested in.    The only thing I've seen, and it is highly debatable is supposed A12 benchmarks that just showed up.   Frankly being too tight with information leads to one loosing interest.
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