How Long Did It Take To Fully Charge An iPhone In 2007 Vs. 2026?

Somphop Krittayaworagul/ShutterstockIt's been nearly twenty years since the original iPhone was released, ushering in the era of the smartphone. A lot has changed over the years, with each iteration of the iPhone getting more powerful and feature-rich. Many of those changes have been in the battery and charging technology that Apple employs.

The original iPhone featured a 1,400 mAh lithium-ion battery that allowed for upwards of 8 hours of talk time, 7 hours of video content, 6 hours of internet usage, 24 hours of audio playback, and 250 hours of standby time. Based on charging tests conducted by professional reviewers, the original iPhone could charge from 0-90% in under two hours. However, the phone took an additional 1.5 hours to go from 90% all the way to 100%.

The iPhone 18 Pro features a 4,288 mAh battery that provides 24 hours of use for general tasks, as per Apple. The iPhone 17 from last year — one of Apple's most popular phones — offers 30 hours of video playback. The latest iPhone 18 Pro charges up to 50% in 15 minutes, which is significantly faster than the first-gen iPhone from 2007.

Read more: Apple Devices That Are Reaching The End Of Software Support In 2026

The biggest change over the years has been in battery capacity. Since 2007, the iPhone battery has increased from 5.18 Wh in the original to 21.75 Wh in the current iPhone 18 Pro Max. This is, more or less, a natural increase as Apple has used larger cells, rather than any fundamental leap in battery technology.

Unlike screens, processors, and cameras, battery advancements have slowed to a crawl. Add in the fact that the industry has long stated that new battery technologies are just around the corner without them actually hitting the market, and you're stuck with powerful smartphones that often rely on portable power banks.

The real advancements came through fast charging. Fast charging became popular in 2013, with the new USB PD 3.0 supporting 60W speeds via USB-C. While most modern smartphones advertise fast charging, not all fast charging is the same. This means that while a smartphone might offer the feature, it might not work depending on your power brick and cable.

The issue is that smartphone manufacturers haven't settled on a standard, making it a bit of a headache for consumers. The current pseudo-standard is USB PD, which is part of the USB standard. Notably, both Google and Apple use USB PD instead of creating their own fast-charging protocol.

But even with this standard, smartphones pull wattage at different rates. This means that even using the same standard, a newer iPhone or Pixel smartphone may pull more wattage than an older model and thus charge at a quicker rate. The wattage that your smartphone can pull and the power brick's voltage will dictate the speed it can effectively charge at.

Another standard is Quick Charge, a format around since 2013. It's used in smartphones from Samsung, Nokia, and more. Currently at Quick Charge 5, the standard is slightly faster than USB-PD and can support standard USB-C cables post Quick Charge 4. Then there's the OnePlus-exclusive Warp Charge 65, giving nearly a day's charge in 15 minutes, but it requires a special cable and power brick. Unfortunately, there's no one-size-fits-all solution when it comes to smartphone fast-charging yet.