Apple iPhone 18 Pro Max went on sale yesterday. The newcomer has the biggest battery and fastest charging yet. It’s not as boring as you would think. Ice Universe has tested the device already and found out exactly what it can do in terms of charging. This is truly the fastest input speed we’ve ever seen on an iPhone, just as they claimed at its debut.
They made a big deal at the launch event, bragging about the iPhone 18 Pro Max’s insane charging speed that refills 50% of the tank in 15 minutes. That’s exactly what Ice Universe noted while doing his own charging test. We got the details on X.
iPhone new model did go from 0% to 50% in about 15 minutes. The charging is rapid in the first 10 minutes, and it fills 34% of the battery. The maximum input noted by the leaker during that period was 52 watts. So it’s technically reaching the same theoretical limit as the Galaxy S26 Ultra.
All it takes is 76 minutes to fully recharge the iPhone 18 Pro Max with a supported charger, which makes sense. The last few percent is always slowest to refill. They’ve given the Pro Max a bigger battery this time. That’s why it hits 100% slower than the older iPhone 17 Pro Max.
iPhone 17 Pro Max hit a max input of 35W at its lowest battery voltage and only took 72 minutes to completely fill the battery. In 10 minutes, it reached 38%. The difference isn’t big. All that matters is that downtime is almost the same while you get better screen time out of the iPhone 18 Pro Max.
Some YouTube reviewers have already done battery testing, and according to Arun from MrWhosetheBoss, the iPhone 18 Pro Max actually clocked out at 12 hours 32 minutes. iPhone 17 Pro Max only lasted 10 hours 36 minutes in that test.
By the way, both iPhones outlasted the Galaxy S26 Ultra that died right on the 10-hour mark. In Samsung’s defence, though, the iPhone 18 Pro Max’s race is with next year’s Galaxy S27 Ultra, not the current S26 Ultra. Let’s see how they respond to Apple’s move. Keep watching the news for more updates.