You’ve seen warnings all over the place: using a non-Apple charger to power up your iPhone is one of the worst mistakes you can make, according to many tech experts. But why is that? With so many cheap chargers sold on sites like Amazon, it’s not a crime to want to investigate more affordable iPhone charging options than those offered by Apple. Will you destroy your phone battery by using a cheaper charger? Is it not worth the money you’ll save?
Tech expert Gary with MacMost.com explains, once and for all, what can happen if you are using a non-Apple charger. The effect may not be as disastrous as you’ve been told (but that still doesn’t mean a cheap charger is the way to go).
Can You Use Any Charger?
Let’s cut to the chase: Yes, you can use any charger for any Apple product, Gary says. You needn’t stick solely to those chargers sold by Apple on Apple’s website and can feel free to shop around for any charger that suits your device’s charging port, and that includes chargers that provide more or less power (watts) than your phone needs to power effectively. If your phone requires a certain amount of watts and you’re using a charger that is less powerful, however, your phone is going to charge at a far slower speed than using a charger that is designed specifically for that phone’s watts needs. This is why a charger from Apple will always deliver the goods — it is tailor-made for your phone.
What About a Fast Charger?
There is a lot of concern out there about using a charger that delivers more watts than your phone needs — will this type of charger destroy your phone battery? According to Gary, your phone will take in the watts it requires, but won’t benefit from the full power of this more intense charger. But it won’t overheat your device, as many of us fear. It just isn’t necessary to have such a powerful charger for a phone that won’t benefit from it.
Does Quality Matter?
There’s a lot of debate over whether a cheap, low-quality charger can destroy or negatively affect your iPhone. Quality matters, but not for the reason you might think. If a charger works — even if it is a cheap charger — it will do its job for your iPhone in much the same way as a high-quality charger. The difference between the two is that the cheaper charger may be more prone to breaking sooner than an expensive one. So you may find yourself needing to replace the cheap charger more often than one that you purchase from Apple or a similar, high-quality charger that is certified as safe for Apple devices.
