The iPhone 12 might be getting a long-needed boost to its charging speeds, if a leak detailing a 20W charger for the new Apple smartphones is to be believed.
The information and images of this charger come courtesy of Twitter leaker Mr. White (via MacRumors). Most of the pictures are of an impressive-looking translucent charging block that shows off the internal components, but this is likely just for prototyping purposes. Instead we imagine Apple will stick with its traditional all-white design, as can be seen here.
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The charger uses a USB-C connection like the iPhone 11 Pro charger. However it's likely that the iPhone 12 itself will still use Apple's Lightning connector, with next year's iPhone 13 said to be removing ports entirely for a fully wireless experience according to certain rumors.
Currently, the iPhone 11 features Apple's older 5W charger in the box (it's the same wattage as the charger the first iPhone came with), while the iPhone 11 Pro and iPhone 11 Pro Max both get an 18W charger bundled with them. All phones are capable of charging at 18W however, so you can buy an 18W block separately if you want your iPhone 11 to power up at its full potential.
With this in mind, the 20W figure is an upgrade for sure, but how big it will be depends on which iPhone 12 models receive it. If Apple chucks this rumored charger into the box of all four rumored iPhone 12 versions, this could be excellent news for people buying the entry level devices. However, if the standard iPhone 12 models retain the 5W charger, and the 20W charger is instead a mild upgrade for the Pro models only, then this change is a lot less exciting.
This upgrade could make the iPhone 12 an even more formidable opponent to the upcoming Galaxy Note 20. Samsung's next phablet is expected to get the same fast 25W charger as the Galaxy S20, with an optional 45W charger available for purchase separately.
In terms of the battery that this charger will be feeding, there are no specific rumors just yet. Apple tends to have smaller batteries than its rivals (compare the 3,046 mAh battery in the iPhone 11 Pro to the 4,000 mAh-plus capacities of similarly-priced Android phones), but does a much better job of using that power efficiently based on our own battery tests.
Since two of the iPhone 12 models are completely new sizes for the iPhone line — a 5.4-inch iPhone 12 and a 6.7-inch iPhone 12 Pro Max — we'd expect a new power cell for each. But we'll have no idea of how they perform until we get our hands on the production versions.
Other rumored upgrades to the iPhone 12 include a new A14 Bionic chipset, and OLED displays and 5G compatibility for all four models. The higher-end iPhone 12 Pro and 12 Pro Max are tipped to receive 120Hz displays and both sub-6Ghz and mmWave support respectively. The Pros will also get a LiDAR depth sensor added to their rear camera array, arming them with four total sensors on the back to the standard iPhone 12's two.
We're currently hearing a lot of information about iOS 14, the operating system that will run the iPhone 12 series, thanks to a series of announcements at Apple's online WWDC 2020 conference. As well as all the new rumored hardware, we know for certain that the iPhone 12 will take advantage of iOS 14's new features like app widgets, Back Tap controls, App Clips and many others.
