Welcome to 2013: New iPhones could finally come with fast charging

Android users like to brag about all the features their phones come with that iPhones don’t, but one item may soon be crossed off the list: fast charging.

See, Apple has always packed a puny 5-watt charger with its iPhones, which can take several hours to refill your battery. Compare that with Android devices which have shipped with at least a 10W charger for years, and nowadays sometimes push 28W. Qualcomm’s Quick Charge is the prevailing standard, and that’s been around since 2013.

But according to a post on Chinese social network Weibo, and as spotted by MacRumors, Apple is planning on bundling a new 18W charger with this year’s iPhones, along with a USB-C to Lightning cable.

The post cites supply chain sources, but while the rumor hasn’t been corroborated, the move would make at whole lot of sense. People poked fun at Apple because you couldn’t connect the iPhone X to a new MacBook without a dongle, as the latter only have USB-C ports. And, again Apple is long overdue to join the fast-charging party.

The numbers are pretty embarrassing. A 60-minute charge on the iPhone X will only get you 37 percent of your battery back from zero. The OnePlus 5T, on the other hand, will charge to 93 percent in the same time with its 20W charger, despite sporting a significantly larger battery. Granted, the 5T might be the fastest-charging smartphone on the market, but every other Android flagship seems to be cable of crossing the 70 percent mark in that time.

The solution for iOS users thus far has been to simply buy a more powerful charger. The larger iPads, for instance use a 12W charger to compensate for the bigger batteries, but this charger also happens to be faster for Apple’s phones as well. More recently, you could spend $75 on a 29W MacBook charger and a USB-C to Lightning cable for the absolute fastest speeds, or use third-party alternatives.

So for now, take this rumor with a grain of salt, but it’s one that I’d hope would pan out if I used an iPhone.