Apple seems to have the 2019 iPhones again with a slow 5 Watt charger to deliver and is in practice for years too late with the renewal of the adapter. Almost every competitor does a standard fast charger in the box of his smartphones, making the backlog of Apple becomes embarrassing.
Apple, where is that faster iPhone charger?
There have been rumors for a while now that Apple is planning to provide its new iPhones with a USB-C connection, instead of the well-known Lightning port. Usb-c has several advantages, including the ability to charge your smartphone quickly.
Almost every Android manufacturer has now switched to USB-c and Apple also did this with the latest MacBooks. That is why it would be logical that the Cupertino company would also give its iPhones the more modern connection this year, right?
Apparently not. Earlier this week, a rumor of Macotakara appeared, a generally reliable website when it comes to Apple rumors. The message states that Apple will simply provide the 2019 iPhones – the direct successors of the iPhone XS, XS Max and XR – with a Lightning port. Now that is not a disaster, but it is also reported that Apple the familiar, but excruciating slow 5 Watt charger in the box stops. That’s no problem if you charge your phone at night, but fast charging is great if you have limited time to recharge.
That would be quite a disappointment, and we do not quite understand why Apple would choose again. The main reason is cost savings: if Apple sticks to the 5 Watt charger and Lightning connection, the company simply saves production costs. This may be a matter of course for Apple, but for consumers, the logic is hard to find
Hopeless backwardness
To put it in a row: with the iPhones, there is a 5 Watt charger in the box, with the iPad that is 12 Watt and the iPad Pro (2018) has an 18 Watt adapter. The latest MacBooks have a much more powerful charger, but also require more power.
The latest iPad Pro also has a USB-c charger and a new 18 Watt quick charger. You can use that to charge the iPhones quickly, but more about that.
The pain is that Apple has for years refused to deliver its iPhones with a fast charger, and now almost every other smartphone manufacturer does. Major competitor Samsung has been doing this for example since 2015. Where the iPhone XS takes about three hours to fully charge with the included adapter, the latest Samsung devices do this in half the time.
It gets more painful when you see that even budget phones are fast-charged as standard. Take for example the Moto G7 Plus from Motorola, which was recently announced. Motorola supplies the phone with a 27-watt charger, which means that it only takes an hour to fully charge. After a half hour of charging, the battery is even 70 percent (!) Full.
The remarkable thing: this device costs only 299 euros on appearance; a fraction of what Apple asks for its iPhones. And then the company from Cupertino still refuses to replace the 5 Watt charger, even if it is only by putting an iPad charger in the box.
Fast charging is possible but is expensive
Important to know is that it is possible to charge an iPhone quickly. Since the iPhone 8, support for fast charging has been built in, but Apple simply does not provide the necessary cable and adapter.
You have to buy it separately: a USB-to-Lightning cable (from 25 euro) and an 18 Watt (35 euro) or 30 Watt USB c-adapter (55 euro). Fast charging costs you at least 60 euros, and with a hefty investment that is an iPhone, it almost feels like a scam.
The most affordable solution? Buy a 12 Watt iPad charger for 25 euros and your iPhone will load many times faster. Sounds like a good deal, but the backlog of Apple is simply enormous: even the cheapest Android smartphones are now supplied with a 10 Watt charger and therefore charge much faster.
Why does Apple not even do this with its iPhones, which now cost more than 1000 euros? Anno 2019 a fast charger in the packaging should be the standard, instead of a (much too) expensive extra that everyone has been offering for years.