One of the major new features of the iPhone 12 series is that with Apple's new MagSafe wireless charger you can recharge at 15W, double that of previous iPhones' wireless charging capabilities. However, a new video shows that you'll need a specific wall charger to get those faster 15W speeds.
Apple does not include a wall charger with its MagSafe wireless charger, meaning you just get the puck with a USB-C cable attached. Aaron Zollo of Zollotech (via MacRumors) put together a YouTube video comparing the charging speeds of MagSafe when plugged in to various wall chargers and found that Apple's own 20W wall charger was the only one to reach the full 15W advertised speed.
Even Apple's 18W wall charger that shipped with the iPhone 11 Pro and iPad Pro doesn't allow MagSafe to reach its full 15W speeds. Instead, Zollo says that with Apple's 18W wall charger, the MagSafe wireless charging speeds topped out at around 13W.
Other wall chargers were even slower. The 96W power adapter that Apple includes with its MacBook Pro was only able to give 10W charging speeds to the MagSafe wireless charger. The Anker PowerPort PD 1 charger that supports up to 30W speeds was only able to deliver between 7.5W and 10W of power through MagSafe, while a 65W wall charger from Aukey delivered around 9W.
Also tested was the wall charger that Google includes with the Pixel 4 and Pixel 5, which topped out at around 9W of power through MagSafe. And with the Samsung wall charger included with the Galaxy Note 20 Ultra only reached speeds of around 7.5W.
The video goes on to show that Apple is aggressive about reducing MagSafe charging power if the iPhone starts to get warm. Zollo notes that if you want the fastest charge for the longest amount of time, take your iPhone out of its case and place MagSafe directly onto the phone to help better dissipate heat.
None of the iPhone 12 models come with a wall charger, a move that Apple says is meant to help the environment, and the MagSafe wireless charger doesn't include one either. Because of this, lots of people are going to be looking for a new wall charger for their iPhone 12 and MagSafe. There are lots of wall chargers out there being advertised as supporting fast charging for the new iPhones, and so it's good to have a test like this to show which wall charger is best if you're getting an iPhone 12 and MagSafe to go with it.
