Fast Charging Your iPhone X With a USB-C to Lightning Cable

Fast charging your iPhone X with a USB-C to Lightning cable

Fast charging is one of the best features introduced to smartphones in recent years, finally letting users get hours of power to their handheld device in a short period of time. But to make the most of it, you need the right chargers and the right cables. As good as the iPhone X is, it doesn't come with everything you need out of the box. For the best experience with iPhone X fast charging, you want a USB-C to lightning cable, and a decent USB-C charger. It doesn't have to be Apple-branded.

How fast charging works

Apple’s lightning connector found on iPhones can be thought of as a different, albeit proprietary, type of USB connector. It abides by the same USB rules of data transfer and power. More specifically, it has the same data transfer rate as USB 2.0 and prior to the iPhone 8, could only charge at 5V 1A (5W). However, when Apple introduced support for USB Power Delivery (PD) in the iPhone 8, it greatly expanded the iPhones charging capabilities. USB PD expands power capabilities up to 100W by opening up support beyond 5V, all the way to 20V, in fact. In short, these higher power rates need to be negotiated between the host (phone) and charger so both must support the USB PD protocol. Luckily, if you have the right equipment then you can charge your iPhone from 0% to 50% in just 30 minutes.

 Fast charging your iPhone X with a USB-C to Lightning cable

Credit: https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT208137

Fast charging your iPhone X

Fast charging was a feature first introduced with the iPhone 8 which made its debut alongside the iPhone X in 2017. Despite this, neither device shipped out with a charger that was a high-enough wattage to take advantage of it. The iPhone X and 8 come with a 5W USB charger and a standard Lightning to USB-A cable, which do a perfectly adequate job of charging your smartphone. But they won't do it particularly quickly.

For fast charging, first, you need a charger with a higher wattage. The iPhone 11 Pro and Pro Max both ship with a USB-C 18W charger, which allows you to fast charge but you will have to buy your own fast charging equipment for the iPhone8, iPhone X, iPhone XR, and iPhone XS.

Fast charging your iPhone X with a USB-C to Lightning cable

Apple sells those chargers and cables itself if you want to buy an official one, though it is expensive for what you get. For a third-party alternative, just search your favorite digital store for fast charging, USB-C, 18W charger. Or, you could buy this 30W USB-C wall charger which is both low-profile and universal, so that you can charge everything from your iPhone X to your laptop and tablet.

Worried that higher wattage chargers might damage your iPhone X? Don't fret. As Apple explains, you can use up to 87W chargers with your iPhone over USB-C and you won't run into any problems. The phone itself controls how much power it draws, so it won't overcharge and damage itself.  Though you can use higher wattage chargers, current iPhone models top out at charging at 30W- that means you won't see any faster charging using anything higher than that. 18W is the minimum required for Fast Charging.

Cable Matters cables and chargers are all guaranteed to be of a high-quality. If you opt for an unknown brand's cable or charger, however, you should always stick to one that has been "Made for iPhone," or "MFI" certified, as that means it's received the Apple seal of approval, having gone through Apple's rigorous compliance testing.

Fast charging with a USB-C to lightning cable

Just as important a step on your iPhone X fast charging journey is the cable that transmits the power. Cable Matters has a number of great options, but the best is this premium USB-C to Lightning cable. It's fully MFi certified and is made of durable materials to make sure that it won't fray, or tangle easily.

It supports up to 30W charging, so you can use it to charge larger devices like iPads containing a lightning port. It can even handle data transfers, so if you want to use it to send some files to another device, it can operate at USB 2.0 speeds up to 480Mbps. The iPhone X fast charging is its biggest selling point, though. With just 30 minutes of charging time, you can go from zero battery to 50 percent. Remember, all of this applies to fast charging your iPhone 11, X, and 8.

Future-proofing your iPhone X fast charging

As well as giving you the ability to fast charge your iPhone X right now, one of the best features of a USB-C charger with a USB-C to lightning cable, is it future proofs your Apple device charging. Apple is expected to transition to using USB-C on iPhones rather than lightning. While there is no guarantee when that will happen, they have already done so with the latest iPad Pro.

While you won't need to use your USB-C to Lightning cable when those devices launch (a standard, high-quality USB-C cable will suffice) you'll have a USB-C charger with a high wattage ready to go. That should mean you'll be able to fast charge any new devices Apple comes out with without difficulty, right from the get-go.

 

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