Apple’s 2017 lineup of iPhones, which includes the iPhone X, iPhone 8, and the iPhone 8 Plus, offers great battery life for their relatively small battery capacity. However, in this day and age, great battery life alone is not enough. It is equally important that a smartphone charges quickly as well.
Apple has always lagged behind in this particular area, with iPhones — especially the Plus variants — taking a relatively long 2.5-3 hours to charge. Thankfully, with the iPhone 8 and iPhone X, that is no longer the case.
In case you are not aware, the iPhone X and iPhone 8 feature fast charging support. This means that they can be charged to up to 50 percent in just 30 minutes. There’s only one problem here, Apple continues to bundle a regular 5W charger with its 2017 iPhones. This means that despite fast charging support, your new iPhone will continue to charge as slowly as your old one.
How To Charge your iPhone X or iPhone 8 Faster
Thankfully, if you want to charge your iPhone X or iPhone 8 faster, the process is pretty simple. Just go ahead and buy a fast-charging compatible charger. The keyword here is ‘fast charging.’ You cannot buy any 2A charger from Amazon, you need to ensure it is USB Power Delivery (PD) compliant as the iPhone X and 8 support fast charging over USB PD.
Here are some USB Power Delivery compatible chargers that you can buy for fast charging your iPhone X, iPhone 8, or iPhone 8 Plus.
- Aukey 18W Power Delivery 3.0 Charger – $21.99 [Amazon]
- Anker USB C 30W with Power Delivery Charger – $22.99 [Amazon]
- Choetech USB-C 39W Wall Charger – $24.99 [Amazon]
- Apple 30W USB-C Power Adapter – $47.97 [Amazon]
Buying a USB-C PD charger alone is not going to be enough though. You will also have to buy a USB-C to Lightning cable which can be an expensive affair. The official USB-C to Lightning cable from Apple is available for $19 [Amazon]. It is important to note that the USB-C to Lightning cable you buy is fast charging compatible. While you can find USB-C to Lightning cables for as low as $10 on Amazon, they won’t support USB Power Delivery.
As a bonus, you can also use your USB-PD charger to charge your 2016 or newer MacBook featuring USB-C connectivity. The charging speeds will be on the slower side but something is better than nothing, right?
How To Charge your iPhone X or iPhone 8 Faster Wirelessly
The iPhone X and iPhone 8 also support wireless charging. Now, while wireless charging is never going to be as fast as wired charging, that does not mean you cannot improve the wireless charging speed of your iPhone 8 or iPhone X. The speed improvement is going to be relatively modest — we are talking about 10-15 minutes here at best, but if you still want the best possible wireless charging performance for your iPhone, read below.
Read: How to Buy a Wireless Charger for iPhone 8 or iPhone X
When the iPhone X and iPhone 8 first shipped, they had 5W wireless charging support. With the iOS 11.2 update though, Apple improved the wireless charging speed to 7.5W. While that’s 50 percent faster on paper, the difference in real life is not that significant. Nonetheless, support for faster 7.5W wireless charging does not automatically mean that your iPhone X/8 will start charging faster. You also need to ensure that your wireless charging is also capable of outputting 7.5W power wirelessly. Wireless chargers that support fast charging on the iPhone 8 and iPhone X will clearly highlight this on their product page. So, if you already own a wireless charger for your iPhone, head over to its product page to see its wireless charging output. And if you are in the market for a new wireless charger, make sure to buy one that is at least capable of outputting 7.5W of power.
Check out some of our wireless charger recommendations for the iPhone 8 and iPhone X below:
- Anker PowerPort Wireless 10 – $13.99 [Amazon]
- Yootech Wireless Charger – $12.95 [Amazon]
- Seneo 10W wireless charger – $15.99 [Amazon]
- Samsung Wireless Charging/Convertible Stand – $16.98 [Amazon]
Read: Fast charging on iPhone 8 Compared to Wireless Charging
It’s important to note that fast charging works best when you charge your iPhone X or iPhone 8 from 0-50 percent. After that, the charging speed slows down to prolong the battery lifespan.
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This post was last updated on April 28, 2020.
