Home Reviews ,,,, Here it is out of the box, How to recharge an iPhone faster? Historically, the answer has always been in two elements: a good quality cable and an equally good power supply of at least 10W. For some time, however, the issue has become complicated.
With the launch of the iPhone 8 and later the iPhone X and Xs, Apple has not only introduced the ability to charge the battery via a wireless device, but has also brought fast charging into play. In practical terms, the phones charge faster with a specific cable, Lightning on one side and USB-C on the other, and with a USB-C charger that reaches 18W.
Responding to these conditions, the advantage, compared to the miserable charger that Apple includes in the package (an accessory that in its technology dates back to about ten years ago), is enormous: an iPhone Xs Max or an iPhone 8 Plus are recharged in half the time. : from about 200 minutes to about 100 minutes.
Having this advantage by using Apple's offer is very expensive. We are talking about 60 euros, the cost of this 18W power supply (35 €) added to this Lightning USB-C cable (25 €). At the moment, alternative solutions are beginning to be found on the market at significantly lower prices. We tested and put to the test a “combo” offered by Aukey for several days here at Macitynet, obtaining excellent results
It is made from a € 20 Lightning-USB C cable and a new 18W Power Delivery charger. Unfortunately Aukey now seems to have withdrawn the cable (perhaps waiting for it to be certified by Apple which has just opened an MFI marking process for this type of accessories), but the power supply is still on the market and costs only 19.99 euros, 15 euros less than the Apple version and, incredibly, 5 euros less than the jurassic Apple 5W power supply.
The Aukey charger packaging 
Here it is out of the box 
The USB-C port 
The specifications 
The Aukey charger compared to the Apple one 
These are the charging performances of the Aukey accessory 
These of the asphyxiated Apple charger 
Here is the comparison between the iPad charger with the Aukey one 
It is noted that the one for iPad is bigger 
The specifications 
The Apple charger is much smaller
In the past we have already done some tests on Power Delivery power supplies with an iPhone 8. In this case we used an iPhone Xs Max obtaining in the Aukey tradition, excellent performance and completely meeting the specifications. The output is close to 19W both with the Aukey cable mentioned above, and with the original Apple USB-C Lightning cable.
The results were excellent: recharging is achieved very quickly. 50% of the charge, from scratch, is obtained in about twenty minutes. In one hour we reached 80%, more than enough for a full day of work. The comparison with the Apple charger included in the package, as you can imagine, does not even arise. To have 50% of the recharge, which certainly isn't enough for a day's work, over an hour goes by. 15% is restored in twenty minutes.
Later we also carried out some tests with a charger from a previous generation iPad Pro (12W; same price as the 5W charger), but the advantage of the Aukey charger was still evident, especially in the first hour. After 60 minutes the Apple charger stopped at 65% (80% instead, as mentioned, with the 18W one). To fully charge our iPhone XS Max, the 12W accessory took twenty minutes longer than Aukey's. Considering that we are talking about a product that costs 5 euros less, there is no need to say which one we would buy when it comes to performance.
We also did a power test with a MacBook Retina, although this machine does indeed require a 29W charger. However, we have verified that the 18W charger is able to wake up the machine when it is at zero battery and keep it running and even recharge it, albeit slowly. From this perspective, it could be an accessory of some usefulness in an emergency situation, especially due to its size.
Finally, a few words must be said precisely about the dimensions. In this context, the Aukey accessory is obviously a loser, as seen in our gallery, with what we find in the iPhone box which is in fact a plug without a cable. On the other hand, it does not lose at all the comparison with the 12W one which is imperceptibly thinner but much more voluminous.
In conclusion, if you are looking for a solution to quickly charge a latest generation iPhone, the Aukey wall charger is the solution you need. It is probably the most compact accessory of this type on the market today (together with perhaps the Pixel's 18W charger which however costs a good 45 €) and offers the best power-cost ratio on the market.
Too bad that to take advantage of it it is still necessary to buy a Lightning cable which still costs 25 €. We are confident that with the launch of the MFI program for Lightning-USB cables this figure will drop; in any case, from today you can already spend € 45 in total to have a fast charging “station”, € 15 less than what it would cost you if you had recourse to Apple.
Click here to buy Aukey's 18W wall charger
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