It looks like you’ll finally be able to fast charge your iPhone beyond the usual 25W, and you’ll have the recent European Union ruling mandating the switch to USB-C to thank for that.
According to 9to5Mac, sources say the new iPhone 15 series will support up to 35W of fast charging through its USB-C port. This means it will be a damn sight faster than the current iPhone 14 series, which Apple claims takes 30 minutes to charge to 50% and fully charges in around two hours through its Lightning port. It will also take full advantage of Apple’s 35W dual-port charger, which was introduced alongside the MacBook Air M2 last year.
As yet, it’s unclear whether the higher wattage will be supported by the entire iPhone 15 line or just the iPhone 15 Pro and 15 Pro Max. This distinction has come about because it’s been rumoured that certain models will get a Thunderbolt port for faster data transfer speeds.
Apple has experience gatekeeping data transfer and charging features even after moving (almost) the entire iPad line to USB-C—the iPad Pro M2 uses a Thunderbolt 4 port, the iPad Air M1 has a USB 3.1 Gen 2 port and the 10th-generation iPad is capped to USB 2.0 speeds. As for charging speeds, the iPad Pro and iPad Air are shown to support up to 33W, while the iPad is limited to 29W.
There are several other big changes that are expected to be limited to the iPhone 15 Pro and 15 Pro Max. The glossy stainless steel finish will likely give way to a hardier titanium construction, while the bezels are reportedly thinner, leading to slightly smaller physical sizes. The traditional iPhone mute switch is also tipped to be replaced by a configurable Action button similar to the Apple Watch Ultra.
Lastly, the updated cameras are rumoured to include a periscope telephoto on the Pro Max, leading to an increased zoom range. As with last year, the Pro models are widely expected to feature the new A17 Bionic chip, with the regular iPhone 15 and 15 Plus due to stick with a year-old chip—the A16 Bionic from the iPhone 14 Pro and 14 Pro Max. We’ll find out for sure when the iPhone 15 is revealed at Apple’s September event, likely happening on September 13.
To be clear, 35W is still a piffling amount of wattage compared to the 45W supported by the Samsung Galaxy S23+ and S23 Ultra, to say nothing of the proprietary Oppo SuperVOOC and Xiaomi HyperCharge technologies—both of which can support well over 100W.
