Why Your Expensive iPhone Still Charges Slower Than a Xiaomi

Apple has improved iPhone charging over the years (or so they say), but the gap with Chinese phones is still huge. The iPhone 17 Pro Max supports up to 45W wired charging, while Xiaomi phones have been offering 120W for years. And the difference isn't just a number on a spec sheet.

A Xiaomi 14T Pro can fill its 5,000mAh battery in about 23 minutes. The iPhone 17 Pro Max needs around 76 minutes to fully charge its similar 5,088mAh battery.

One big reason is competition. Apple and Samsung control a huge part of the US smartphone market, and neither company has pushed charging speeds very hard. Samsung has also kept a 5,000mAh battery in its top Galaxy Ultra phones for years.

Things are very different in China. Xiaomi, Oppo, Realme, OnePlus, vivo and other brands fight for the same buyers. A faster charger, bigger battery or better camera can give one phone an edge over another.

That competition has pushed charging speeds far beyond what we normally see from Apple or Samsung. Even 100W and 120W charging doesn't seem unusual anymore on a Chinese Android phone.

This is where I think Apple is simply too conservative. I understand why the company doesn't need to chase 200W or 240W charging. At those speeds, saving another few minutes doesn't make much difference.

But there's a huge space between 45W and 120W. Once you've used a phone that can get most of its battery back while you're having a shower or drinking a coffee, going back to an iPhone feels slow. For a phone that costs well over $1,000, 45W isn't very impressive anymore.

There is another reason Apple can get away with it. Many people charge their phones overnight. If your iPhone sits next to your bed for seven hours, it doesn't really matter if charging takes 25 or 75 minutes.

Chinese brands aren't only working on charging speed anymore. Silicon-carbon battery tech has allowed them to fit much larger batteries inside phones without making the devices much thicker. We are now seeing models with batteries well above 7,000mAh, while 10,000mAh phones are starting to appear.

Apple and Samsung will probably have to move in the same direction eventually. A much larger battery also takes longer to charge, so faster charging becomes more useful as capacity grows.

I don't think Apple needs to turn the next iPhone into a 240W charging experiment. But moving toward 65W or even 80W would make a real difference without turning charging speed into a race. Chinese brands proved years ago that fast charging can be one of those features you quickly get used to. It's about time the iPhone caught up.