iPhone 17 Pro Max Charge Test: 40W vs 35W vs 25W vs 20W - Wired & MagSafe

What was tested

• Device: iPhone 17 Pro Max (same phone used for every run).
  • Each test started from 0% battery.
  • No charge limits or charging optimizations enabled.
• Chargers compared:
  • Wired: Apple 20W adapter, Apple 35W adapter, Apple new 40W adapter.
  • Wireless: Apple MagSafe charger (up to 25W) paired with a 35W brick to reach MagSafe’s maximum.

Key findings and technical points

Wireless vs wired

• MagSafe (up to 25W) is convenient but significantly slower than wired charging.
• Wireless charging is less energy-efficient; more energy is lost as heat, so total charging time is longer even with a sufficiently powerful brick.
• In the tests, the MagSafe/35W run was still finishing while wired runs had already completed.

Wired adapter performance

• 35W and 40W adapters deliver a noticeable speed boost over the 20W adapter.
• 35W and 40W perform nearly identically in charging speed for the iPhone 17 Pro Max — there’s little to no real-world speed advantage for the 40W over the 35W.
• Apple’s older 30W adapter performs similarly to 35W; anything around 30W+ gives the fastest practical charging on this phone.

40W adapter trade-offs

• The primary benefit of the 40W adapter is a smaller, more portable design.
• It has a single USB‑C port, whereas the 35W adapter has two USB‑C ports (useful for charging multiple devices).
• Conclusion: not worth buying the 40W purely for faster charging if you already own a 30W/35W adapter.

Practical recommendations

• For quick top-up charges, use wired charging at ~30W or higher.
• If you already have a 20W+ adapter, you’re in pretty good shape; 30W+ yields the fastest/most similar top speeds.
• Use MagSafe for convenience or overnight charging, but don’t expect it to match wired speeds for quick charges.

Short takeaway: Wired 30W–35W is the sweet spot for fastest practical charging on the iPhone 17 Pro Max; MagSafe is great for convenience, not speed.

Context vs other phones

• iPhones still charge slower than many Android phones and typically take over an hour to go 0→100%.
• Apple has been gradually improving charging speed generation by generation, but flagship Android devices commonly offer faster end-to-end charging.

Sponsor / additional product info (included in the video)

UGREEN NAS DH2300 — sponsor segment highlights:

• Local NAS with two drive bays, up to 60 TB total capacity (claims like ~20M photos, 40k movies).
• Compatible with many third‑party HDDs.
• Faster uploads than cloud because it uses local network speed; includes a 1 GBE port (~125 MB/s).
• Mobile app features: auto iPhone photo backup, Time Machine support for Mac, NFC quick connect, multi-user permissions.
• Setup claimed to take ~10 minutes. Promo code offered in the video description for 20% off.

Type of content in the video

• Review / speed test: head‑to‑head charging speed comparison among Apple’s current official chargers.
• Practical buying/usage guidance: whether to upgrade to Apple’s 40W adapter and when to use MagSafe vs wired.
• Sponsored product walkthrough/mini-guide for the UGREEN NAS DH2300.

Main speakers / sources

• Video presenter / creator (unnamed in subtitles) — conducts the charging tests and gives recommendations.
• Sponsor: UGREEN / UGREEN NAS DH2300 (NAS product/company featured).