The iPhone 16 Pro offers much faster wireless charging, but there's a catch

Finally, you can get virtually the same charging speeds if you use a cable to charge your iPhone 16 or a wireless charger, as long as you use the right one.

Also: iPhone 16 Pro: My 3 favorite things about this incredibly powerful supercomputer

When it comes to wired charging, Apple has been using the “50% charge in about 30 minutes” metric for years, ever since it was implemented iPhone 8 in the fall of 2017, and things haven't changed with the iPhone 16 line. But wireless charging has come a long way since then, going from 7.5W for previous Qi-compatible iPhones to 15W for Qi2-compatible phones, including all models from the iPhone 12.

On Monday, Apple announced The new iPhone 16 lineup, with some charging upgrades. The new MagSafe standard now supports up to 25W charging, offering a 40% increase over the previous standard, but with some caveats.

To take advantage of the upgrade, you'll need a new MagSafe wireless charger, which must be connected to a 30W or higher USB-C charger.

Also: iPhone 16 Pro vs iPhone 14 Pro: Is it worth upgrading?

But it's not cheap. The new MagSafe charger costs $39 ($49 if you want the version with the 2 meter cable). Yes, you read that right: $10 more for a meter of USB-C cable. A compatible USB-C charger costs about $15, bringing the total to at least $54.

The Qi2 standard was developed by the Wireless Power Consortium, of which Apple is a major player. Qi2 It's so similar to MagSafe in that it uses the same charging speeds and neodymium magnets to align the wireless charging head, that we were hoping Apple would stick with Qi2 for the iPhone 16.

Also: My favorite MagSafe battery pack supports Qi2 charging and it's not Anker or Baseus

However, the company has decided to sweeten its offer. After all, not only is Qi2 hardware cheaper than the eMagSafe hardware Apple sells, but Apple also doesn't receive any commission on sales of third-party hardware.

The new MagSafe charger is backwards compatible with older iPhones, but will default to charging at the previous 15W limit. According to Apple, this setup will give users a 50% charge in about 30 minutes, making wired and wireless charging virtually the same.

Is it worth paying that price for a wireless power amplifier? That's for you to decide!