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s1oplus

macrumors regular
Original poster
Aug 24, 2023
105
23
My 5th gen ipad was charging slow. So i bought a 20w adapter i just wanted to know if the ipad would use 20w or stay at 12w
 

rui no onna

Contributor
Oct 25, 2013
14,904
13,229
I’m surprised it made a difference considering the iPad 5th gen doesn’t support USB PD fast charging.
 
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Shirasaki

macrumors P6
May 16, 2015
16,249
11,745
Your iPad would only charge whatever the max value they can supports, rather than adapting to power adapter’s max output value. Idk which wattage you are using before, but presumably it is lower than 12W.
 

Shirasaki

macrumors P6
May 16, 2015
16,249
11,745
I’m surprised it made a difference considering the iPad 5th gen doesn’t support USB PD fast charging.
Back in Apple II and macintosh days, Apple already had a history to incorporating special modes that only their hardware know how to use. For example, the Apple IIe card for macintosh had a special display mode that were not visible to end user if no special hardware uses it.
I noticed this charging irregularity where my 11” MacBook Air charged iPhone 6s Plus faster than charging through PC usb port. 10W output compared to 5W or lower. So yeah.
 

rui no onna

Contributor
Oct 25, 2013
14,904
13,229
Back in Apple II and macintosh days, Apple already had a history to incorporating special modes that only their hardware know how to use. For example, the Apple IIe card for macintosh had a special display mode that were not visible to end user if no special hardware uses it.
I noticed this charging irregularity where my 11” MacBook Air charged iPhone 6s Plus faster than charging through PC usb port. 10W output compared to 5W or lower. So yeah.

The 5th gen only supports 12W though. I remember checking before and it only pulls ~13W from the wall even when charging via USB-C to Lightning. The 7th gen does pull ~15W.
 

Shirasaki

macrumors P6
May 16, 2015
16,249
11,745
The 5th gen only supports 12W though. I remember checking before and it only pulls ~13W from the wall even when charging via USB-C to Lightning. The 7th gen does pull ~15W.
Still gonna be faster than charging through PC USB ports For sure, which I tend to do back when I was still using my iPhone 6s Plus.
 

JPack

macrumors G5
Mar 27, 2017
13,469
26,072
Maximum is 12W. If you feel it's faster, it's placebo effect.
 

JPack

macrumors G5
Mar 27, 2017
13,469
26,072
Back in Apple II and macintosh days, Apple already had a history to incorporating special modes that only their hardware know how to use. For example, the Apple IIe card for macintosh had a special display mode that were not visible to end user if no special hardware uses it.
I noticed this charging irregularity where my 11” MacBook Air charged iPhone 6s Plus faster than charging through PC usb port. 10W output compared to 5W or lower. So yeah.

I agree that's possible, but not in this case. We would see some USB 3.0 or USB-C controller in the teardown, similar to iPhone 8.

iPad (5th gen) also has a regulatory label in General > Legal & Regulatory. It specifically states 2.4A.
 

s1oplus

macrumors regular
Original poster
Aug 24, 2023
105
23
I got a new charger for absolutely no reason then ( new fire hazard tbh this thing heats up even while using a 5w charger )
 

JPack

macrumors G5
Mar 27, 2017
13,469
26,072
I got a new charger for absolutely no reason then ( new fire hazard tbh this thing heats up even while using a 5w charger )

You can save it for when you get iPhone 15 or future iPhones with USB-C.
 

rui no onna

Contributor
Oct 25, 2013
14,904
13,229
Not sure how well it will work with the MBA. My M1 MBA shipped with a 30W charger.

Personally, I use a 165W Satechi 4 USB-C port charger. So much easier to charge my various devices.
 
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