I wouldn’t blame you if battery life were one of the main reasons for upgrading to one of the four iPhone 16 models this year. Battery life is almost always a top reason for getting a certain model. It’s certainly one of the factors that made me choose the iPhone 16 Plus this year. And let me tell you how amazing it is to wake up with a 50% charge on the second day.
Even the base iPhone 16 features better battery life than the iPhone 15. Plenty of battery life tests in real-life scenarios proved that Apple has indeed improved battery life on the 2024 models. Apple did this by combining more efficient components, like the A18 chips, with larger batteries.
The only thing left is knowing how fast iPhone 16 batteries charge. Apple made a point during the launch event to say the iPhone 16 models support 25W MagSafe wireless charging.
That seemed faster than the theoretical wired charging speeds at the time, which had the same official 20W speed as their predecessors. In practice, iPhones have been able to reach almost 30W with supported charges in previous years.
Tech. Entertainment. Science. Your inbox.
Sign up for the most interesting tech & entertainment news out there.
By signing up, I agree to the Terms of Use and have reviewed the Privacy Notice.
Official iPhone 16 documentation that Apple had sent regulators indicated the four phones support speeds of up to 45W.
A few weeks later, we know the iPhone 16 models do not reach that speed. However, a test involving many chargers shows the iPhone 16 Pro Max can top 31W speeds via USB-C.
The test comes from Chargelab, which used various chargers to measure the charging speeds of the iPhone 16 Pro Max.
When hooked to official Apple chargers, the iPhone 16 Pro Max topped 30.55W speeds with 35W units. Increasing the power of the charger did not increase the charging speed.
More interesting is the third-party charging test, in which a 65W charger managed to hit almost 32W. The actual speed was 31.86. A 35W charger reached 31.37W speeds.
The blog also tested wireless charging speeds, with Apple’s new MagSafe Charger reaching a speed of 18.18W. This is slower than Apple’s advertised 25W but faster than the 15W wireless charging speeds the iPhone 15 models support. Third-party wireless chargers were much slower, only reaching 6.94W in the tests.
Finally, reverse wireless charging, which lets you recharge accessories like your AirPods via USB-C reached speeds of 1.26W. You probably won’t want to use the iPhone 16 Pro Max (or other iPhones) to charge other devices.
Chargelab also tested the consistency of the wired charging speed for a full charge of the iPhone 16 Pro Max. They placed the handset into a thermotank with the temperature set at 25°C (77℉) and then charged the phone from 0% to 100%. Also, they used a 70W Apple charger for the test.
Unsurprisingly, the iPhone won’t maintain top charging speeds throughout the charging phase. It’s what happens with all phones:
The voltage is around 15V at first, and the charging curve can be divided into five parts. In the first part, the peak power stayed at 28W for the first 13 mins. Then, the power gradually drops to 22W, 15W, and 8W in turn. Meanwhile, the voltage dropped to 5V at 55 mins. The final part begins at one hour and 9 mins, the power slowly drops to almost zero. At about 2 hours and 7 mins, the phone displays that the battery is fully charged, but charging is still ongoing. It takes 2 hours and 20 mins to be fully charged.
The blog notes that the iPhone 16 Pro Max reaches 50% in 26 minutes and 80% in 57 minutes.
All four iPhone 16 models likely offer similar charging speeds. I can tell you that charging the iPhone 16 Plus from 20% to 99% using a 100W charger took about 90 minutes. I was on a call the whole time. Combine it with better battery life than my iPhone 14 Pro, and I have no complaints. I also think I could very well rock an iPhone 16 or iPhone 16 Pro model and not worry about battery life for quite a while.
The good news is that wired charging speeds are higher than wireless charging speeds and higher than the iPhone 15 models. Last year’s phones reached 25W charging speeds with chargers capable of delivering that power.