Apple One-Ups 15W Qi2 Charging With 25W MagSafe Charging in iPhone 16 lineup

Third-party accessory makers just started releasing next-generation 15W Qi2 charging devices in the last few months, but Apple raised the wireless charging speed bar again with the iPhone 16 models.

new magsafe charger
With Apple's newly updated MagSafe charger and a 30W power adapter, the ‌iPhone 16‌ models can charge at up to 25W wirelessly over MagSafe, which is 10W faster than Qi2.

Qi2 is great because it's an open standard that doesn't require accessory makers to pay Apple to license its technology, but companies that want to offer the fastest wireless charging speeds for the new ‌iPhone 16‌ models will once again need to turn to ‌MagSafe‌.

When ‌MagSafe‌ was first introduced in the iPhone 12, it was a proprietary Apple charging standard that accessory makers could license. It was able to charge iPhones at up to 15W. The alternative was Qi charging, which was limited to 7.5W, but it didn't require using Apple technology.

Qi2 brought 15W charging speeds that were on par with ‌MagSafe‌, giving us charging speed parity for a short time. Accessory makers could design magnetic chargers that offered 15W charging without paying Apple a fee. That's over now, and we're back in the exact same situation we had when it was original ‌MagSafe‌ vs. original Qi.

Qi2 chargers will only charge ‌iPhone 16‌ models at up to 15W, and 25W charging will be limited to ‌MagSafe‌. This time around, it's a wider difference because 25W charging is fast charging and can provide up to 50 percent power in 30 minutes.

Apple released a new version of the ‌MagSafe‌ Charger alongside the ‌iPhone 16‌ models, so it doesn't look like existing ‌MagSafe‌ chargers are going to provide 25W. Apple says the 25W charging requires a "new" ‌MagSafe‌ charger, which means accessory makers and customers alike will need new charging accessories to get the updated ‌MagSafe‌ speeds. Note that the new ‌MagSafe‌ charger still charges older iPhones at 15W.

While it's just the ‌iPhone 16‌ models that support 25W charging now, this is a new baseline that will be added to future iPhones, and 15W Qi2 charging will soon be antiquated.

Related Roundups: iPhone 16, iPhone 16 Pro

Popular Stories

AirPods Pro 3 Mock Feature

AirPods Pro 3 Just Months Away – Here's What We Know

Friday April 18, 2025 5:16 am PDT by
Despite being more than two years old, Apple's AirPods Pro 2 still dominate the premium wireless‑earbud space, thanks to a potent mix of top‑tier audio, class‑leading noise cancellation, and Apple's habit of delivering major new features through software updates. With AirPods Pro 3 widely expected to arrive in 2025, prospective buyers now face a familiar dilemma: snap up the proven...
CarPlay Hero

Apple Releases Wireless CarPlay Fix

Wednesday April 16, 2025 11:28 am PDT by
If you have been experiencing issues with wireless CarPlay in your vehicle lately, it was likely due to a software bug that has now been fixed. Apple released iOS 18.4.1 today, and the update's release notes say it "addresses a rare issue that prevents wireless CarPlay connection in certain vehicles." If wireless CarPlay was acting up for you, updating your iPhone to iOS 18.4.1 should...
iphone 16 pro models 1

17 Reasons to Wait for the iPhone 17

Thursday April 17, 2025 4:12 am PDT by
Apple's iPhone development roadmap runs several years into the future and the company is continually working with suppliers on several successive iPhone models simultaneously, which is why we often get rumored features months ahead of launch. The iPhone 17 series is no different, and we already have a good idea of what to expect from Apple's 2025 smartphone lineup. If you skipped the iPhone...
Beyond iPhone 13 Better Triad

Apple's 20th Anniversary iPhone May Finally Go All Screen

Tuesday April 15, 2025 6:31 am PDT by
Apple is preparing a "bold" new iPhone Pro model for the iPhone's 20th anniversary in 2027, according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman. As part of what's being described as a "major shake-up," Apple is said to be developing a design that makes more extensive use of glass – and this could point directly to the display itself. Here's the case for Apple releasing a truly all-screen iPhone with no...
maxresdefault

iPhone 17 Pro Launching Later This Year With These 12 New Features

Sunday April 13, 2025 7:52 am PDT by
While the iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17 Pro Max are not expected to launch until September, there are already plenty of rumors about the devices. Subscribe to the MacRumors YouTube channel for more videos. Below, we recap key changes rumored for the iPhone 17 Pro models as of April 2025: Aluminum frame: iPhone 17 Pro models are rumored to have an aluminum frame, whereas the iPhone 15 Pro and ...
iOS 19 Roundup Feature

iOS 19 Will Add These New Features to Your iPhone

Tuesday April 15, 2025 7:37 am PDT by
The first iOS 19 beta is less than two months away, and there are already a handful of new features that are expected with the update. Apple should release the first iOS 19 beta to developers immediately following the WWDC 2025 keynote, which is scheduled for Monday, June 9. Following beta testing, the update should be released to the general public in September. Below, we recap the key...
top stories 2025 04 19

Top Stories: iPhone 17 Pro Rumors, CarPlay Bug Fix, and More

Saturday April 19, 2025 6:00 am PDT by
This week saw rumor updates on the iPhone 17 Pro and next-generation Vision Pro, while a minor iOS 18.4.1 update delivered not just security fixes but also a fix for some CarPlay issues. We also looked ahead at what else is in Apple's pipeline for the rest of 2025 and even the 20th-anniversary iPhone coming in 2027, so read on below for all the details on these stories and more! iPhone 17 ...
tvOS 18 Thumb 1

Apple Releases tvOS 18.4.1

Wednesday April 16, 2025 10:04 am PDT by
Apple today released tvOS 18.4.1, a minor update to the tvOS 18 operating system that came out last September. tvOS 18.4.1 comes two weeks after Apple released tvOS 18.4, and it is available for the Apple TV 4K and Apple TV HD models. tvOS 18.4.1 can be downloaded using the Settings app on the ‌Apple TV‌. Open up Settings and go to System > Software Update to get the new software....
Apple TV Plus Feature 2 Magenta and Blue

Apple TV+ Available at Significantly Lower Price Until Next Week

Friday April 18, 2025 11:42 am PDT by
Apple TV+ is currently available at a much lower price than usual, but time is running out if you want to take advantage of the offer. In the U.S., new and qualified returning customers can subscribe to Apple TV+ for just $2.99 per month, for three months. Afterwards, regular pricing of $9.99 per month applies. The offer is available in the Apple TV app, and at tv.apple.com, through April...

Top Rated Comments

RichTF Avatar
8 months ago

More heat = more wasted energy... And Apple BS us with their "carbon neutral" products... So pathetic.
More efficiency is always great to have, but a little bit of context and perspective is useful here.

If a 30W power supply gives 25W of MagSafe charging, it’s reasonable to guess that there’s around 5W of wasted energy there. A full charge will take an hour, so that’s around 5 watt-hours of wasted energy per day, for most people.

So in 1 year it’ll waste around 2000 total watt-hours of electricity, which costs around 40p (at average UK energy prices).

Your iPhone really is an incredibly energy-efficient technical marvel, no matter how you charge it, and isn’t anywhere near the top of the list of climate-change problems.

(But yes, even more efficiency would still be great.)
Score: 10 Votes (Like | Disagree)
UliBaer Avatar
8 months ago
Nice, now you can ruin the battery even faster! ??
Score: 9 Votes (Like | Disagree)
GDF Avatar
8 months ago
I think it is so odd that other magsafe manufacturers were not ready for this. Seems like they usually know. So, all we have is Apple’s standard puck, which is a lame solution compared to all the cool 3/1 chargers that will also do nightstand mode, like Anker Cube, Belkin 3/1, etc….

Even if they had know heads-up, all they had to do was follow Macrumors and they would have known this was coming! Lol. ?
Score: 6 Votes (Like | Disagree)
1BadManVan Avatar
8 months ago
I assume their new cooling solution helped enable this faster charging speed? Obviously creates more heat with that much wattage
Score: 6 Votes (Like | Disagree)
orev Avatar
8 months ago

With these crazy high 200w charging for phones, do users really plug in and charge their phone for 8 minutes then immediately unplug and use. I'm thinking most people just keep a phone plugged in for some time and then eventually unplug from the charger. Speed becomes unnecessary if users mostly just stay connected
Fast charging is only important to a small group of users, like people who travel a lot, are constantly on the move for their jobs, or kids who play games non-stop all day and drain the battery multiple times a day.

For everyone else, this is completely unnecessary, and it seems more like a flexing contest between the companies so their marketing people can point to a number that goes up.
Score: 4 Votes (Like | Disagree)
rmiller065 Avatar
8 months ago
I ordered mine yesterday and it came today … also received my iPhone 16 Pro case
Score: 4 Votes (Like | Disagree)