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How to Charge the iPhone 6 Faster

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All iPhone 6 models come with the normal 5W 1A wall charger, but it turns out you can charge your iPhone 6 faster than the 5W charger could, and it’s thanks to support for Apple’s 10W 2.1A iPad chargers.

In the past, you could technically charge your iPhone 5s or iPhone 5 using the larger iPad chargers, with the false notion that more output from the larger charger would allow for faster charging. However, the iPhone is designed to only pull in enough juice that will adequately charge it, meaning that using a larger iPad charger wasn’t really worth it in the long run.

However, the folks at iLounge confirm that the iPhone 6 can draw in 2.1A without a problem, meaning that users can use the larger 10W iPad chargers and charge their iPhone 6 faster than a regular 5W iPhone charger would.

When using a 2.1A iPad charger to charge an iPhone 6, it’ll take around two hours to charge it up to about 90%, whereas it would take quite longer with a 5W charger.

Support for 2.1A charging applies for both the 4.7-inch iPhone 6, as well as the 5.5-inch iPhone 6 Plus.

With previous iPhones, it was recommended to charge them with their included 5W charger, mostly because using any kind of larger charger wouldn’t really help a whole lot, due to the reasons stated above, and some experts even claimed that charging your phone with a larger charger could damage your phone’s battery over time. However, it looks like the iPhone 6 can use iPad chargers without a problem.

So then why does the iPhone 6 come with only a 5W charger by default?

iPhone 6

It’s most likely due to manufacturing costs. Those smaller 5W chargers cost less to manufacture than the larger 10W iPad chargers. Thus, it’s Apple’s way of saving money and giving users the smaller chargers in order to make a bit more profit off of iPhone 6 sales.

Granted, the iPhone 6 will charge just fine using a 5W charger, but it seems that users will finally get real benefits from using a larger 10W iPad charger.

Using a Non-iPhone Charger

Every smartphone comes with its own charger, mostly because each phone requires a different amount of amperage, wattage, etc. when it comes to charging them. However, there are cases where you can use a non-iPhone charger with your iPhone 6.

It short, most USB wall chargers will work with most smartphones, but there are a couple things you’ll want to be aware.

Ideally, you should use the charger that came with your iPhone to charge it, but in certain scenarios, it doesn’t hurt to use a different charger, just as long as the amperage matches up. With the iPhone 6, it supports 2.1A, which means you can effectively use an iPad charger, but for older iPhones, 1A chargers are the go-to option, and most smartphone chargers are between 1.0 and 1.5 amps.

iPhone-charger

For instance, the Nexus 5 charger is set at 1.2A. So you might be asking yourself, since the Nexus 5 charger has more amperage, wouldn’t it charge an iPhone 5s quicker than a normal iPhone charger? Not exactly, While the Nexus 5 charger could technically deliver more power than necessary for the iPhone, devices only draw as much power as they can handle. Thus, an iPhone would still only draw 1A from the 1.2A charger.

As for voltage and wattage, the only time you really need to worry about voltage when it comes to charging your iPhone is when you’re traveling to a different country. The US uses a completely different system than Europe, so you’ll have to get a voltage converter if you want to use your American gadgets across the pond.

Otherwise, all USB devices rely on the 5V standard, so all USB chargers for all smartphones use 5V. Thus, this is something you don’t really need to worry about.

The same goes for wattage, although Apple markets their various chargers by labeling them with their respective wattages. The iPhone charger is 5W, while the iPad charger uses either 10W or 12W. Wattage is nothing more than a measurement of volts multiplied by the amperage, and since all USB devices use 5V, you really only need to take a look at the amperage to get an idea of how much power it can deliver.

4 Comments

4 Comments

  1. Mike Cochran

    06/22/2015 at 10:19 pm

    The information about charging your devices in other countries is wrong. You don’t need a voltage adapter, just a plug adaptor which is much simpler and cheaper. Most computer, phone and camera accessories are equipped to handle both the 110 V, US standard and the 220 V, standard in other countries. I live half the time in Europe and keep all of my Apple devices charged and ready with no problems whatsoever.

    • Alexis Juarez

      06/30/2015 at 6:58 am

      AC adapters for battery-powered equipment are technically voltage adapters.

  2. David Pearson

    06/13/2016 at 5:51 am

    The wattage has nothing to do with it. If the output is 5 volts, then it will charge at the same rate whether it is rated at 5W, 10W or even 100W.

  3. paul

    06/28/2016 at 6:18 am

    This is not correct…..ALL USAB chargers put out 5 volts……however some can deliver 5 watts, some 10, etc. The 10 watt charger will charge the phone faster than a 5 watt one. The only exception is that if the phone can only handle 5 watts without overheating, the the phone automatically limits the charging to 5 watts even if the charger is capable of putting out 10 watts.

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