Q: 5 Watt charger - are you really bothered?

[Slash82]

Hi friends,

got a question and story for all of you:

Are you really bothered by that 5 Watt standard charger?
(I know the new "Pro models" don't have them anymore)

The reason I ask:
I personally kinda prefer that low 5 Watt charger over any other fast charging option and I'm happy that my iPhone 8 got it.

Why?
Here is the story to it - some of you might call me nuts and others might be interested in that.
Because it makes my battery live longer - I tested it out!
Back in October 2017 I picked up my iPhone 8, also my brother did.
I strictly tried to keep my charging level between 30% and 75% (to minimize the stress for the battery cells) as best as I could and I'm still trying to keep it up that way, only using my standard charger.

How I did it was - when my iPhone was brand new I set it up and with that I was using my iPhone until the battery level dropped to 30% then I took my stop watch, plugged iPhone in and I measured to time it took to reach 70%.
With the 5 Watt charger it charged almost exactly 1% per minute.
Which means to charge that 40% - from 30% to 70% it tooks 40 minutes.
From that on I used a timer that cut of energy at the time I pre programmed it, so if my iPhone was at 50% I set the timer to around 25 minutes to reach 75%. From that on I charged my iPhone every time that way.
(sounds more complicated than it is in real life)

While my brother used his faster 25 Watt iPad charger (also for over night charging) - the speed difference was not that high.
Especially between 0% to 30% and 80% to 100% the iPhone itself slows charging speeds on itself - doesn't matter what charger you use.
He didn't and doesn't care about anything - used his iPhone until it was empty and charged it up to 100%.

So, after almost exactly 2 years what are the result with that different behavior?
My iPhone 8 still is 100% battery health (Apple Battery Health) and my brother's iPhone is at 87% right now.

What do you say to that?
Does faster charging is a bigger thing for you?
I can live with that 45minutes charges over that day.

Looking forward to hear your opinions to that!

 

[Annie_M]

Well, I think you're on to something. I have an iPhone 8 Plus, and my charging pattern is similar to your brothers. And my battery health is 86%. It's operating just fine, but your point is giving me food for thought!

 

[Slash82]

Well, I think you're on to something. I have an iPhone 8 Plus, and my charging pattern is similar to your brothers. And my battery health is 86%. It's operating just fine, but your point is giving me food for thought!

Thank you for your reply!
I also never thought it made that big difference - was more a personal game for me to test it out. Every review I watched and read was reviewers complained about the 5 Watt charger, but keeping battery life for good is now a bigger deal for me.
Especially when it comes to battery replacement - water proving might be gone with it.

 

[taz323]

Never really seemed to worry about battery, always plugged it when I went to bed and never had an issue. Had the Xr and moved to the 11 and with the battery being as they are now, I Just use the charger it comes with.

 

[Slash82]

Never really seemed to worry about battery, always plugged it when I went to bed and never had an issue. Had the Xr and moved to the 11 and with the battery being as they are now, I Just use the charger it comes with.

Thank your for your reply!
How is your battery health right now?
Kinda curious to see how it keeps up with that using pattern.

 

[taz323]

Thank your for your reply!
How is your battery health right now?
Kinda curious to see how it keeps up with that using pattern.

It's a new phone, still at 100%.

 

[wilber1]

I recently bought a 12W charger at Apple and the rep. told me it was safe to charge my iPhones and iPad with it and he uses it on his iPhone 8 and it charges up nice and fast and is very safe .

 

[Just_Me_D]

TLDR...., but to answer the thread question, no, I’m not and have never been bothered by the 5W charging brick. It did it’s job and since I primarily charge my device overnight, there wasn’t a reason for me to use anything more powerful.