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When you’re looking to top off your iPhone’s battery, you might not think much about the actual plug you’re using. The thing is, it actually matters quite a bit, especially if you care about charging speeds. But even knowing that, you might take a look at Apple’s newest power adapter and think “$40? Without a cable? No way.”
It’s certainly a steep price for a power adapter, especially as you can find other options for literally half the price. But there’s something interesting about this particular charger. It might not necessarily be worth $40, but there’s a reason it’s not cheap: This thing might be the only power adapter you need in your tech tool box.
Dynamic power output
As you can see from the product listing, Apple’s power adapter is advertised as a 40W charger. However, it is also advertised as being able to deliver up to 60W. You don’t typically see that from a power adapter, as the wattage you see is the wattage you usually get.
As CNET’s Bridget Carey explains, this is made possible through some clever engineering. The power adapter will start by offering the maximum charging output your device in question can take in, up to 60W. iPhones can’t accept 60W of charging, for example, but MacBooks can: So this 40W power adapter can actually deliver 60W of power when connected to something like your MacBook—at first. Since the power adapter isn’t actually a true 60W charger, it can’t sustain that power output for long periods of time. As such, it pulls back the power draw over time.
What do you think so far?
In practical terms, it means you can get an initial 60W charge on a device that can accept it, which can help charge your larger devices faster at the start. Rather than bring a power adapter for your iPhone, and a larger one for your MacBook, or tote a huge power adapter for both, you get a compact power adapter that can offer the best of both worlds.
There’s also a reason Apple chose 40W for this power adapter’s “standard” output. The new iPhone 17 series has the quickest charging speeds of any iPhone device so far, charging up to 50% in just 20 minutes. (The exception is the iPhone 17 Air, which can charge to 50% in 30 minutes.) However, you need the right power adapter to take advantage of these charging speeds—at least 40W. (Again, the iPhone 17 Air is the exception, as it can charge to 50% in 30 minutes with 20W or higher.)
That’s really the perk of this dynamic power adapter. It’s powerful enough to offer the fastest charging speeds for your iPhone 17, while also offering a power boost to give something like a MacBook a faster charge, at least for a little while. That being said, there are plenty of power adapter options out there, including ones that offer outputs in the 60W range. No matter what power adapter you end up going with, just keep two things in mind: the maximum power output of the adapter itself, but also your charging cable. If your cable can’t support the wattage, it doesn’t matter how large the adapter is.
