The best chargers for your new iPhone

Wired charging with third-party adapters

You can always charge your new iPhone with a third-party charger. Better yet, you could already have a suitable one at home. We have a ton of chargers at our office, so we took a few to see how they would compare to Apple's.

The USB-PD chargers we used are Google Pixel's 18W adapter and Galaxy Note20 Ultra's 25W adapter.

The QC-compatible chargers we took are Xiaomi's 22.5W adapter from the Redmi Note 9S and Xiaomi's 18W 20,000 mAh Powerbank. We also tested with Huawei's 18W QuickCharge adapter from the P30 Lite.

Finally, the regular chargers we've used for this test are Xiaomi's 10W adapter from the Redmi 9, IKEA's KOPPLA 3xUSB 12W adapter, and AUKEY's 12W car charger.

The USB Power Delivery compatible chargers work great. Google's 18W adapter is a match to Apple's - it replenishes 56% in half an hour and 86% in one hour. Just like Apple's 18W adapter, this one also outputs the maximum 18W.

Using Samsung's 25W charger from its latest Galaxy Note 20 Ultra yields the same results as Apple's own 20W adapter - meaning you get 60% in 30 mins and 89% in 60 mins. The iPhone 12 Pro won't take more than 20W, though, and that's what it takes from Samsung's adapter. This means the new iPhones always fast charge at a maximum of 20W whether you are using a 20W or a 120W charger.

The Quick Charge-rated adapters are no good for the iPhones - they simply won't fast charge your smartphone. Take the Xiaomi's 22.5W adapter from the Redmi Note 9S, for example - it works at about 4.5W and refills 17% in 30 minutes and 28% in 60 minutes.

The 18W Quick Charge Xiaomi 20,000mAh Powerbank is more versatile as it offers 5.1V x 2.4A (12.24W) standard output in addition to QC ones. It recharges 38% of the iPhone's dead battery in half an hour and 62% in one hour.

Huawei's 18W QuickCharge adapter from the P30 Lite usually outputs about 9W and refills 30% in 30 minutes and 56% in 1 hour.

IKEA's KOPPLA ($8, €6, £6), the one with 3x USB-A ports, is one very popular power adapter found in many homes around the world. It is rated 5V-2.4A or 12W on one port or 17W for the total of three ports. Hooking the iPhone 12 Pro on this charger is an excellent idea - it outputs full 12W and recharges 44% in half an hour and 80% in one hour.

The Aukey's 12W car charger is plenty fast, too. It outputs 12W on each of USB-A ports and it replenishes 44% of the iPhone's dead battery in 30 mins and 78% in 60 mins.

Finally, we've tested with Xiaomi's 10W adapter from the Redmi 9 box. It is the same plug the maker is shipping with a variety of home appliances like mini vacuum cleaners, shaves, etc. Oddly, it can't work at 10W. Instead, the iPhone is taking about 7.5W (5V, 1.5A), and it refills 23% in 30 mins and 40% in 60 mins.

Now let's take a look at the full charge times. As we said before - upon reaching 80% the iPhone begins to charge slow and the last 20% require pretty much the same time to complete - between 40 and 50 minutes - no matter the charger.

So, all USB-PD chargers, as well as those rated at 12W, will completely recharge the iPhone 12 Pro for about 1 hours and 30 minutes. The Quick Charge adapters aren't quick at all as they are incompatible.

Time to full charge (from 0%)

• Samsung USB-PD 25W
  1:25h
• Google USB-PD 18W
  1:31h
• IKEA KOPPLA 12W
  1:38h
• AUKEY 12W car charger
  1:39h
• Huawei QC 18W
  1:59h
• Xiaomi Powerbank 18W QC2.0
  2:10h
• Xiaomi 10W adapter
  2:33h
• Xiaomi QC3 22.5W
  4:20h

Conclusion: The iPhone 12 Pro charges quickly with any 18W+ USB-PD power adapter. Whether it's made by Samsung, Google, IKEA, Anker, or other - it will fast charge your iPhone. If you have chargers rated at 5.0V-5.2V at 2.4A, such as the IKEA KOPPLA, they should be fast enough, too, and purchasing a USB-PD adapter could be unnecessary.