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Battery drain issues with iOS 11? Here’s some easy fixes
Charging your iPhone used to mean finding a cable (and hoping it wasn’t frayed) and hooking it up to the nearest charger. But the iPhone X and iPhone 8 bring with them new charging features.
Here’s everything you need to know about charging your new iPhone.
Must read: Here are the Apple products you shouldn’t buy (and three that you can’t buy anymore)
All in all, wireless charging works, and it works well.
Then we come to the fast charge feature. And this is where things get interesting.
The first thing you’re going to need for fast charging is a USB-C to Lightning cable. But it can’t be any old cheap, third-party USB-C to Lightning cable. It has to be Apple’s USB-C to Lightning cable. Yes, it has to be that one. The one that costs $25, or $35 if you want a 2-meter long one (charging that much for an additional meter of cabling is just so Apple).
I’ve tested dozens of third-party cables, and none supported fast charging. I’m told by contacts within the industry that third-party cables are coming, but for now, you must have the Apple’s special megabucks cable.
You also need this cable if you own a new MacBook Pro and what to be able to fast charge your iPhone from it (although for basic data sync or regular charging, you can use a third-party cable).
As far as USB-C chargers go, you can either use an Apple USB-C charger (the cheapest being the 29W USB-C charger that retails for $50), or any Power Delivery compatible charger, such as the Anker Premium 5-port 60W USB charger.
You can also fast-charge from any power bank that supports Power Delivery, such as the Anker PowerCore+ 20100 USB-C powerbank.
Some observations about fast charging the iPhone X/8:
It’s fast! It’ll take an iPhone X/8 from flat to 50 percent charge in about 30 minutes. Fast charge works whether the iPhone is locked or while you’re using it, with the speed of charging only slightly affected by using the handset while it’s charging (so for the fastest charge, stop fiddling with your iPhone). There’s no discernible warmth from the iPhone while fast charging, so you can still use it. When the charge hits 80 percent, the iPhone switched from fast charge mode to regular charging to complete the charge.
Apart from the crazy cost of Apple’s USB-C to Lightning cable, I think that fast charging is the best option for charging the iPhone X/8, with wireless charging being good for an overnight charge or for charging the handset during the day.
See also:
The iPhone X doesn’t save Apple from desperately needing a ‘next big thing’ Can you blow up your iPhone x/8 by placing it on a wireless charger pad while it’s charging with a cable? The Apple Watch 3 is awesome USB-C is a total dumpster fire because we want it to do too much too quickly The iPhone 8’s best feature is one that most people will never get to use iOS 11.0.1 update causes havoc for some iPhone and iPad users
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Apple
Mobility
Smartphones
Hardware
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iOS
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