Plugable Hub Charges iPhone 5 and iPad Mini Faster than Their Bundled Chargers

With the release of Apple’s iPhone 5 and iPad Mini and their new “Lightning” connector, we wondered if Apple would update the charging behavior of their devices. If you don’t recall or aren’t aware of the convoluted story behind charging Apple’s products (the 30-pin generation), here is a refresher from a post we published a while back.

As far as we’re aware Apple hasn’t announced any changes in regards to their USB charging spec compliance with these devices, so we weren’t exactly optimistic. But we grabbed our 4 Port Hub which complies with the Battery Charging 1.1 standard, connected an iPhone5 and iPad Mini to it (without connecting the hub to a host computer), and measured the charge rate. In true X-mas miracle fashion, both devices charged at the full rate equivalent to what you would get by using Apple’s wall charger; instead of the old behavior where 30-pin generation devices would charge at 500mA max (with a computer attached) and not at all without (unless the iOS device itself was powered off).

There’s even icing on the cake; in our test iPhone 5 and iPad Mini charged at a HIGHER rate via the hub than with Apple’s wall charger, we calculated 1.1A through the hub whereas the in-box charger provides only 1.0A. Which equates to reaching a full charge from 10% battery in about 1.5 hours on iPhone 5, compared to 1 hour 50 mins with the wall charger.

What’s more (yes, there’s even more!) both the iPad Mini and iPhone 5 charged at the accelerated rate via our hub while syncing them to a computer. So they appear to be making full use of the great possibilities with the USB Battery Charging 1.1 standard. It’s wonderful news, and a great move by Apple.

Here’s a breakdown of all the charge rate data we recorded:

Please feel free to comment here with your experiences, or e-mail support@plugable.com for any questions or inquiries — we’re always glad to help!