iPhone 16 Pro is rumored to have much faster charging speeds

If the latest rumor from the Chinese-language site IT Home is to be believed, it will take a lot less time to charge up your iPhone 16 Pro or Pro Max. Apple’s Pro-model iPhones this year are claimed to get a big boost in maximum charging speed: up to 40W (from 27W) when using an USB-C connection and 20W (up from 15W) when using a MagSafe-certified wireless charger.

That’s a 50 percent improvement in maximum wired charging speed and a 33 percent improvement in wireless (when using a MagSafe charger).

The claim is that the increased speed is meant to offset the larger batteries coming in the iPhone 16 Pro models, but that doesn’t make a lot of sense to us… the increased battery capacity is said to be only 2.5 percent or so on the iPhone 16 Pro and 5.7 percent on the Pro Max. Given the way charging speeds taper off as the state of charge increases, such modest battery capacity increases weren’t going to make a huge difference in charging times.

If true, this rumor is great news for anyone considering an iPhone 16 Pro this year. An increase to 40W of charging speed with only a 3-6 percent increase in battery capacity will mean much shorter charging times for those with higher-power USB-C power adapters. For more on what we expect to see from Apple’s new iPhones this fall, check out our iPhone 16 rumor roundup.