Here's why your iPhone charges slower than a budget Xiaomi

The Xiaomi supports 120W wired charging and fills its battery from 0 to 100% in 23 minutes, four times faster than what the iPhone 17 Pro Max is capable of. This phone currently sits in first place on our battery charging list.

If we take a look at newer models, they add insult to the injury with much bigger silicon-carbon batteries that still charge faster than what iPhone and flagship Galaxy phones can achieve.

What gives?

Why does your iPhone charge slower than most of the Chinese phones out there?

The answer to this question is not simple. For starters, the US smartphone market is very, very different from the Chinese one. In the US, Apple dominates with a 60% market share, followed by Samsung with around 22%.

This duopoly leads to stagnation when it comes to new features. Samsung has been using a 5,000 mAh battery for its top Galaxy Ultra model for ages, ever since the first model came out back in 2020.

There is no incentive to upgrade the battery in your phones when your biggest rival hasn't touched theirs for six straight years. The same applies to charging. For the longest time, iPhones were stuck at 20W to 27W wired charging, which I cannot even call "fast."

That is why, when Apple announced the 45W upgrade for the iPhone 17 Pro series, everyone lost their minds.



Meanwhile, the Chinese market is oversaturated with brands and models, and they are all fighting tooth and nail for market share. The competition is so fierce that new tech arises every year — and in some cases, even more often.

Every brand in China has its own proprietary fast-charging standard, while in the US and Europe as well, companies strive to follow universal charging standards.

Chinese brands are constantly pushing the limits when it comes to batteries, charging, new camera sensors, and exotic features like under-display cameras and edge-to-edge screens.

However, the problem is twofold. Smartphone users in the States have different expectations and different habits.

Americans are okay with slower charging speeds (for now)

According to a consumer survey by The NPD Group, 64% of all Americans charge their phones overnight, and in 93% of cases, this happens at home.

You don't need your phone while you are asleep, and whether it charges in 30 minutes or in 3 hours doesn't really matter.

It is a matter of habit, tied to cultural and economic differences. During my visit to China back in 2023, I was completely overwhelmed by how fast-paced life was there. US cities such as New York and Los Angeles don't even come close.

In China, people often need to top up their phones on the go, several times a day. There are public fast-charging stations in subways, libraries, cafes, most buses, and even at random points throughout cities. Fast charging is embedded in the Chinese smartphone experience.

Will Apple and Samsung ever catch up?

They will, eventually. There's a physical limit to how fast a smartphone can charge, and Chinese brands are very close to that limit.

The fastest commercially available smartphone is the Realme GT3, unveiled back in 2023 at MWC in Barcelona. The phone supports 240W wired charging and charges from zero to full in around 10 minutes.

Pumping in more power at this point starts to give diminishing returns. Most Chinese brands have now settled on 100W to 120W charging speeds as the most efficient and safe. I think Apple and Samsung will catch up, but it will take a couple more years.

Samsung dipped its toes into silicon-carbon battery tech with the Galaxy Z Fold 8 series, and rumor has it that Apple will follow suit with the iPhone 20.

The larger capacities of these silicon-carbon cells require more powerful charging to keep charging times down. By 2030, this huge discrepancy in charging speeds between iPhones and Chinese brands could be gone.