How to Fast Charge Your iPhone X

One of the more low-key features of the iPhone 8, 8 Plus and iPhone X is the addition of fast charging. And if you got one of the aforementioned devices, and you want to use that feature, here’s how.

What Is Fast Charging?

First of all, true fast charging is typically defined as being able to restore about 50 percent of a device’s battery life in 30 minutes. Pretty handy for a quick charge, but the actual results will vary depending on the charging equipment that you use.

Unfortunately, Apple doesn’t include the necessary power brick or charger needed to make the feature possible with its new handsets. The ubiquitous Apple charging brick that comes standard is slow — really slow. So, to use any type of fast charging, you’ll need to buy some extra hardware.

1 Buy the Cable

If you’re going to be charging an iPhone X (or iPhone 8 for that matter), you’ll want to use a proprietary Apple cable instead of a third-party cable. It’s the safest way to go, and risking your $1,000 smartphone to save a few bucks just isn’t worth it.

The cable you’ll need is Apple’s USB-C to Lightning Cable, and you’ll have two choices. A 1-meter version for $25, or a 2-meter version for $35.

2 Buy the Charger

The cheapest way to go as far as the actual fast charging brick is Apple’s 29W USB-C MacBook charger. It retails for $49, but it’ll get you that 50-percent-in-30-minute charge that you want.

On a side note, according to recent charge speed tests, there’s no difference in charging speed between the 29W charger and Apple’s other MacBook chargers. So go for the cheaper route.

Of course, if you don’t need true fast charging in your day-to-day life, there’s a cheaper way to charge your device a bit faster: Apple’s iPad 12W charger. Rather than the 29W option, this charger costs $19 — and if you have an iPad lying around, it’s an option you probably already have access to.

For comparison:

• The 12W charger hit 36 percent in about 30 minutes and was fully charged in 1 hour, 45 minutes.
• The 29W charger hit 50 percent in 30 minutes and was fully charged in 1 hour, 30 minutes.

Whether that slight increase in speed is worth the extra cost is completely up to you.