iPhone 17 Air fast charging sounds incredible, but how fast will it be?
If you purchase an independently reviewed product or service through a link on our website, BGR may receive an affiliate commission.
The nature of my job made me look at battery life and charging speeds for years, but I would have done it as a consumer anyway. I'm a longtime iPhone user, and battery life is very important to me. I suffer from the same battery anxiety as most smartphone buyers, though I'm trying to manage it.
Apple significantly improved battery life with the iPhone 16 series, and I've enjoyed using the iPhone 16 Plus and 16 Pro Max for several months at a time. Battery life and charging speeds haven't been a concern.
Today's Top Deals
Best deals: Tech, laptops, TVs, and more sales
Best Ring Video Doorbell deals
Memorial Day security camera deals: Reolink's unbeatable sale has prices from $29.98
Then again, battery life was already great on older, larger iPhone models, so I expected the iPhone 16 Plus and 16 Pro Max to deliver. The battery upgrades Apple brought to the smaller iPhone 16 variants, including the iPhone 16e, gave me hope that the iPhone 17 Air won't trigger my battery anxiety.
I'm already excited about the ultra-slim iPhone 17 Air, even though I know there will be trade-offs. Battery life is one of them. A thin handset means a thinner battery, so I might have to charge the iPhone 17 Air more often.
But what if Apple gave the iPhone 17 a huge upgrade in wireless charging speeds? What if those speeds went up to 50W?
According to 91 mobiles, Apple filed documentation with Taiwan's NCC regulator that shows it plans to include the new Qi 2.2 standard in future MagSafe chargers. The blog obtained two model numbers, A3503 and A3502, which could correspond to upcoming puck-shaped MagSafe chargers Apple will release soon.
The chargers in Apple's images look just like regular MagSafe chargers. The key upgrade here is support for Qi 2.2. This new wireless charging standard could let Apple increase speeds up to 50W.
The images 91mobiles found show the wireless chargers Apple submitted to the NCC support up to 45W speeds when used with a compatible power adapter.
Besides faster speeds, Qi 2.2 also offers better efficiency and improved magnetic alignment.
These chargers would work with any iPhone that has MagSafe connectors on the back, but top charging speeds might only be available on some models. I'd guess the iPhone 17 series will support those speeds from launch.
If that happens, the iPhone 17 Air could charge wirelessly almost as fast as Android rivals.
As a longtime iPhone user, I've learned not to envy too much of what Android vendors have done in recent years. We've seen plenty of Chinese companies launch premium phones with much faster charging speeds than the iPhone. Apple never matched those speeds, but it didn't need to as long as some iPhones offered solid battery life.
Apple has increased battery charging speeds recently, and the iPhone 16 series stands out with much faster wireless charging. All iPhone 16 models support 25W MagSafe charging, except the iPhone 16e, which lacks magnets on the back.
That's faster than the 20W wired charging speeds Apple lists for its iPhones. In practice, those speeds can exceed 25W with the right charger.
Apple says 25W MagSafe charging can recharge 50% of an iPhone 16 battery in 30 minutes. USB-C charging offers the same 50% charge in that time frame.
I don't expect Apple to raise wireless charging speeds all the way to 50W. But anything beyond 25W would make the iPhone 17 Air charge impressively fast, and that's good enough for me. I'll gladly accept faster charging on a super-thin phone, even if it means using an external MagSafe battery pack or charging more than once a day.
Along those lines, if the iPhone 17 models support wireless charging up to 45W, I'd expect USB-C charging to get a similar boost.
Don't Miss: Today's deals: Nintendo Switch games, $5 smart plugs, $150 Vizio soundbar, $100 Beats Pill speaker, more
More Top Deals
Amazon gift card deals, offers & coupons 2025: Get $2,000+ free
See the
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
TechCrunch
19 minutes ago
- TechCrunch
Week in Review: Why Anthropic cut access to Windsurf
Welcome back to Week in Review! Got lots for you today, including why Windsurf lost access to Claude, ChatGPT's new features, WWDC 2025, Elon Musk's fight with Donald Trump, and lots more. Have a great weekend! Duh: During an interview at TC Sessions: AI 2025, Anthropic's co-founder had a perfectly reasonable explanation for why the company cut access to Windsurf: 'I think it would be odd for us to be selling Claude to OpenAI,' Chief Science Officer Jared Kaplan said, referring to rumors and reports that OpenAI, its largest competitor, is acquiring the AI coding assistant. Seems like a good reason to me! Everything is the same: Chinese lab DeepSeek released an updated version of its R1 reasoning AI model last week that performs well on a number of math and coding benchmarks. Now some AI researchers are speculating that at least some of the source data it trained on came from Google's Gemini family of AI. WWDC 2025: Apple's annual developers conference starts Monday. Beyond a newly designed operating system, here's what we're expecting to see at this year's event, including a dedicated gaming app and updates to Mac, Watch, TV, and more. This is TechCrunch's Week in Review, where we recap the week's biggest news. Want this delivered as a newsletter to your inbox every Saturday? Sign up here. News Image Credits:Thomas Fuller / SOPA Images / LightRocket / Getty Images Business in the front: ChatGPT is getting new features for business users, including connectors for Dropbox, Box, SharePoint, OneDrive, and Google Drive. This would let ChatGPT look for information across your own services to answer questions. Oh no: Indian grocery delivery startup KiranaPro was hacked, and all of its data was wiped. According to the company, it has 55,000 customers, with 30,000 to 35,000 active buyers across 50 cities, who collectively place 2,000 orders daily. Techcrunch event Save $200+ on your TechCrunch All Stage pass Build smarter. Scale faster. Connect deeper. Join visionaries from Precursor Ventures, NEA, Index Ventures, Underscore VC, and beyond for a day packed with strategies, workshops, and meaningful connections. Save $200+ on your TechCrunch All Stage pass Build smarter. Scale faster. Connect deeper. Join visionaries from Precursor Ventures, NEA, Index Ventures, Underscore VC, and beyond for a day packed with strategies, workshops, and meaningful connections. Boston, MA | REGISTER NOW Artsy people, rejoice! Photoshop is now coming to Android, so users of Google's operating system can gussy up their images, too. The app has a similar set of editing tools as the desktop version, including layering and masking. Let's try that again: Tesla filed new trademark applications for 'Tesla Robotaxi' after previous attempts to trademark the terms 'Robotaxi' and 'Cybercab' failed. Rolling in dough: Tech startup Anduril just picked up a $1 billion investment as part of a new $2.5 billion raise led by Founders Fund, which means Anduril has doubled its valuation to $30.5 billion. On the road again: When Toma's founders realized car dealerships were drowning in missed calls, they hit the road to see the problem firsthand. That summer road trip turned into a $17 million a16z-backed fundraise that helped Toma get its AI phone agents into more than 100 dealerships across the U.S. Fighting season: All gloves were off on Thursday as Elon Musk and President Trump took to their respective social networks to throw jabs at each other. Though it might be exciting to watch rich men squabble in public, the fallout between the world's richest person and a sitting U.S. president promises to have broader implications for the tech industry. Analysis Image Credits:BlackJack3D / Getty Images Money talks: Whether you use AI as a friend, a therapist, or even a girlfriend, chatbots are trained to keep you talking. For Big Tech companies, it's never been more competitive to attract users to their chatbot platforms — and keep them there.
Bloomberg
24 minutes ago
- Bloomberg
Trump Warns Musk of Consequences for Backing Democrats, NBC Says
President Donald Trump said Elon Musk will pay 'very serious consequences' if the billionaire tech mogul funds Democratic candidates that challenge lawmakers who backed Republicans' sweeping tax-and-spending bill, NBC News reported. Trump, in a phone interview with NBC News' Kristen Walker, also said he has no desire to repair his relationship with Musk. The two had a public falling out on Thursday.
Forbes
24 minutes ago
- Forbes
Google Makes New $200 Father's Day Offer To Pixel 9 Buyers
MOUNTAIN VIEW, CALIFORNIA - AUGUST 13: A new Google Pixel 9 phone is displayed during the Made By ... More Google event at Google headquarters on August 13, 2024 in Mountain View, California. Google announced new Pixel phones, watches and AI features during the Made By Google event. (Photo by) Following one of its most aggressive Pixel 9 price drops yet, Google has once again slashed the price of its flagship smartphone. However, for serious deal hunters the company's new Pixel 8 Pro bundle offer might be the better deal. Let's start with the Pixel 9 discount. All models, including the Pixel 9a, are cheaper for this sale, which ends on June 15th. The Pixel 9 price cut is similar to what we have seen in previous sales, but Google does have some new bundle deals, alongside discounts for virtually all wearables. Virtually all of Google's wearables and smart home devices are on sale, too. These are the standout deals. A Google Pixel 8 pro phone is displayed during a product launch event for the Google Pixel 8, and ... More Pixel 8 pro phones, Pixel Watch 2, and Pixel Buds Pro earbuds, in New York on October 4, 2023. (Photo by Ed JONES / AFP) (Photo by ED JONES/AFP via Getty Images) The most eye-catching promotion is for the Pixel 8 Pro, which is now down to $599. Google lists this as a $400 discount, but the 2023 flagship hasn't cost $999 since it launched two years ago. Despite the chicanery, this is a solid deal for a phone that isn't wildly different from the Pixel 9. The promotion is boosted by Google throwing in a free Pixel Watch 2 LTE and a free case with the Pixel 8 Pro. To me, this makes the Pixel 8 Pro the better choice if you're on a budget because the free Pixel Watch can be sold to extend the discount. If you're worried about buying older tech, there's very little daylight between the Pixel 8 and Pixel 9 ranges. The Pixel 8 has many of the Pixel 9's features, including AI tools like Magic Editor, Best Take, and Video Boost (on the Pixel 8 Pro). Formerly exclusive Pixel 9 features, such as the Pixel Weather app, have now migrated over to the Pixel 8. Only the updated hardware separates the two phones. I wrote more extensively about why the Pixel 8 Pro may be the better choice for tight budgets here. Crucially, the Pixel 8 still has five years of software support left. When the device launched in 2023, Google extended the amount of Android updates and security patches its Pixel phones would get to seven years. We will have to see if Google (and Samsung) honor that promise as we edge closer to 2030. But if we take Google at face value, that extended support adds value to the Pixel 8, especially since there are fewer reasons to buy new hardware that only marginally improves per year. Manufacturers may struggle to convince fans to buy new phones when the near-identical predecessor is half the price. This is good news for Pixel 9 and Pixel 8 shoppers because it is currently the best time to buy high-end, cheap, phones.
