If something is important in our day to day life with the iPhone is to have battery to enjoy it. In general it’s as easy as resting our phone in a MagSafe dock or plugging it into the corresponding charger, but what if we don’t have it handy? What if we only have the Mac charger, can we use it? Let’s see.
The logic behind compatibility
Apple, in its quest for efficiency and ease of use that characterizes all the company’s products, has for years developed a series of USB-C chargers that are compatible with both our MacBook and the latest iPhone and iPad. So, if we find ourselves in the situation of having to charge our iPhone and we only have the charger of our MacBook at hand, we can use it.
It is relatively little known and, in fact, may seem a bit puzzling, but it is completely safe to use Apple’s higher power USB-C chargers to charge our iPhone or iPad. It is the device itself that determines how much power it needs, not the charger. That is, there is no risk of “overcharging” or damaging the device, as a higher power charger does not mean that the iPhone will charge using more power. To verify this, Apple has conducted extensive tests on its entire range of USB-C adapters to ensure this compatibility.
How the fast charging process works
Just because you won’t be using full power, doesn’t mean you won’t be using more power than with other chargers. A more powerful charger means that the iPhone can ask the charger for as much power as possible, which means that it will use fast charging. With this charge the battery reaches 80% at full speed – which already depends on the iPhone model and the type of charger – so we can have it practically ready in record time.
For such fast charging, Apple recommends the use of 20W adapters. However, what happens if we use a higher power adapter? Efficiency remains the same. Depending on the current capacity of our battery, our device will absorb different levels of energy, always the maximum possible.
Which devices are compatible with which chargers
According to Apple, the following iPhone and iPad model devices are compatible with its 18W, 20W, 29W, 30W, 61W, 87W, 96W and 140W adapters – the most powerful charger – and can use fast charging:
- iPhone 8/8 Plus and up.
- iPad Pro 12.9-inch (1st generation and up).
- iPad Pro 11 inches (1st generation and up).
- iPad Pro 10.5 inches.
- iPad Air (3rd generation and up).
- iPad mini (5th generation and up).
To take advantage of this charging, we can use Apple’s USB-C to Lightning cable or also a third-party USB-C power adapter that supports USB Power Delivery (USB-PD). There are several of these on the market, some really compact thanks to their GaN construction and also with different ports for simultaneous charging of devices.
The evolution that chargers have been going through generation after generation and with each new iPhone has led to the creation of more universal solutions to charge our devices easily. Just like the ability to share the internet from the iPhone, the compatibility between MacBook chargers and iPhone and iPad chargers is not only a great convenience in many occasions, but also an efficient and safe way to charge our devices wherever we are. So the next time we find ourselves needing to charge our iPhone – be it the iPhone 15 or almost any other model – and we don’t have the necessary charger, remember that with the appropriate cable, the Mac charger will be not only compatible, but also much faster.
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