iPhone 13 charging speed tested

We already know the iPhone 13 battery life numbers, but what are the actual charging speeds? We have all for iPhones lined up for this test — the iPhone 13 mini, 13, 13 Pro and Pro Max — and we do a full charge up from a completely drained battery to 100%.

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With no further ado, here are the results of this charging speed test...

Interestingly, the differences in actual charging speeds are not that big as you might expect, and the Pro Max charges about as quick as all other that have much smaller battery sizes.

Oddly, iPhone 13 charging speeds slowed down quite significantly towards the end and it actually took us the longest to charge, but we would guess that was due to some irregularity, and will be repeating the test to confirm the results of that particular model, so do take that with a grain of salt.

iPhone 13 Pro Max review

Yes, as you charge up your iPhone the charging speed decreases as it approaches a full charge. Apple has set limits so that charging speed ramps down when you hit certain battery levels.

For example, you only get the maximum 18W-20W charging speed until you hit about 50% battery level. From there on, your iPhone will limit the power input to about 14W, and that will last until you reach about 70% battery level. Then, it will further drop to just around 9W until you reach the 80% level. Finally, from that point and until you reach a full charge, the battery will top up at 5W rates. When you reach the final percentage points, it can drop even further in the so called trickle charge speeds.

All of this is done to protect the battery health long term. It's common knowledge that most stress on the battery occurs in those final levels of charging. Some battery purists will recommend only charging your battery to about 80% if you want to keep it healthy for the longest amount of time.

Apple has introduced the MagSafe magnetic wireless charging on the iPhone 12 series in 2020, and it has the benefit of iPhones tightly snapping to a wireless charger and using it most effectively, plus you get speeds of up to 15W, faster than the 7.5W speeds we used to get on regular Qi wireless chargers.

However, while you would think that this means MagSafe charges twice as fast, that's not really the case.

In our testing, using the Apple MagSafe charger, it took about 2 hours and 45 minutes to fully charge up an iPhone, and that's a full hour more than with Apple's 20W charging brick and a wire. But that number really depends on what charging brick you connect your MagSafe charger to. Other tests have shown that using Anker's 30W chargers connected to MagSafe resulted in faster speeds and a full charger reached in 2 hours and 15 minutes.

And compared to a standard 7.5W Qi charger, that takes about 3 hours and 15 minutes for a full charge, so it's safe to say that's not all that much of a difference (30 minutes more compared to MagSafe with Apple's 20W).

Should you buy a MagSafe charger for your iPhone 13 / Pro / Max? Yes, if you like the convenience and the magnetic snap, but don't expect the super rapid charge that the 15W number might suggest.