With OnePlus announcing phones that can charge faster than the United States electrical system can handle, it’s a stark reminder that many of people are still charging iPhone models with a puny 5W charger.
Indeed, the last time Apple shipped a phone with a charger was 2019’s iPhone 11 and that was the 5W brick that offers painfully slow replenishment with a Lighting cable.
Now, it appears Apple is ready to put the 5W charger – which incidentally shipped with the very first iPhone all the way back in 2007 – out to pasture.
MacOtaraka (via MacRumors) has been doing some digging and found that the slow coach of the range is sold out in lots of countries. The report points out it is currently unavailable to buy in Australia, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, New Zealand, China, and Japan.
Contrary to that, in the UK and the US, you can still get one to join the hundreds of others you likely have in various shoeboxes and junk drawers around your house.
Apple stopped shipping chargers with mobile gadgets on environmental grounds. It offered the ability to cut down on e-waste and slim down the box in order to fit more units on a single shipping pallet.
However, the company has also released several faster options in recent years. There’s also a 20W USB-C Power Adapter and accompanying cable, as well as the MagSafe charger that offers wireless charging up up to 15W. The 20W solution offers up to 50% battery charging in 30 minutes.
It’s still nothing compared to what we’re seeing from some of Apple’s biggest rivals, but with an iPhone 14 launch around the corner, we might see an update? It hasn’t been a large part of a rumours associated with the new handsets, but we hope to be surprised.
