Apple iPad Air 5 test, 20W charger can meet your needs?

preface

On March 9, 2022, Apple held a spring new product launch conference, the tablet product line also ushered in an update, iPad Air 5 grand debut, a total of deep space gray, pink, purple, blue, starlight color five colors to choose from.

The biggest upgrade of the iPad Air 5 is the use of the M1 processor, the 8-core processor compared to the previous generation of performance is greatly improved by 60%, right, is the iPad Pro on the one. Support for the second generation of Apple Pencil and Fun Keyboard makes this entertainment tablet a productivity center.

And the charging part of Apple, as always, omits the power and duration, which is also the focus of this discussion, without saying much, directly start.

Unbox

The packaging is still very apple, and the laminated packaging seems that apples can't take care of environmental protection.

The iPad Air 5 comes standard with a USB-C to USB-C cable and a 20W USB-C PD fast charger.

The 10.9-inch Liquid Retina display features advanced technologies such as True Color display and P3 wide color gamut, an anti-reflective coating, and Touch ID on the top bezel.

In terms of interface, iPad Air 5 adopts a USB-C physical interface, which is twice as fast as the old interface, supports 10Gbps data transfer rate, better connects external hard disks, displays, docking stations and other peripherals, and supports USB PD fast charging.

20W fast charge

Although it supports higher power, apple sending a charger is not bad... Let's take a look at whether this charging partner can meet the needs of the iPad.

20W charger

Apple 20W PD fast charge charger in the design continues the design ID of Apple 18W charger, using fixed pins, the main shell is white paint glossy, for users familiar with Apple products, get to the hand to know that it is Apple's charger.

The top surface of the output is equipped with a USB-C interface, a white tongue plate, and a centered design. The end face is light gray, which is very compatible with the white lacquered bright surface.

The input side housing is marked with product parameter information

Manufacturer/Manufacturer: Selcom Technology (Shenzhen) Co., Ltd

Input: 100-240V~50/60Hz 0.5A

Output: 5V3A or 9V2.22A

Power adapter model: A2244

The height is 41.34mm.

The charger width is 42.33mm.

The thickness is 27.22mm, the size of the charger is about 41.34×42.33×27.22mm, the volume of the charger is about 47.63cm, and the power density is about 0.41W/cm.

The weight of the charger is about 58.2g.

This size can only be said to be OK now.

Using the ChargeerLAB POWER-Z KT002 to detect the output protocol of Apple 20W PD fast charge, it shows that only fast charging protocols such as PD2.0 are supported.

In addition, the PDO message shows that the USB-C port has two sets of fixed voltage gears of 5V3A and 9V2.22A.

100W fast charging line

This C2C data cable is quite familiar, without extending the tail and braiding the outer quilt.

The style of the terminals is consistent with the charger, the glossy white casing, the fingerprint collector.

The length of the wire is approximately 101cm.

This data cable has a built-in E-Marker chip, which supports up to 100W of charging power, but the transmission rate is only USB 2.0, which is a bit of a key, after all, the iPad interface specifications are USB3.1.

Charging evaluation

iPad Air 5 was unveiled in the spring of 2022, compared to the iPad Air 4 upgrade is not large, and the interface still uses the USB-C interface and supports USB PD fast charging, with a standard 20W fast charging head (iPhone does not have the treatment). The charging head network also got the new iPad Air 5, let's see if there is an update on the fast charge.

Official charger compatibility testing

Apple also began to support PD fast charging very early, its current PD fast charging head has been quite large, the charging head network to find all apple chargers, to see how the iPad Air 5 fast charging support is.

Apple's charger family, power coverage 5W, 10W, 12W, 18W, 20W, 30W, 61W, 67W, 87W, 96W and 140W Gallium Nitride chargers, the following into the main topic.

Charge the iPad Air 5 with an Apple 5W charger with 5.06V 0.94A 4.78W.

Charge the iPad Air 5 with an Apple 10W charger with 5.07V 1.41A 7.19W.

Charge the iPad Air 5 with an Apple 12W charger with 5.09V 1.41A 7.22W.

Charge the iPad Air 5 with an Apple 18W PD charger with 9.08V 1.5A 13.62W.

Charge the iPad Air 5 with an Apple 20W charger with 8.99V 2.13A 19.15W.

Charge the iPad Air 5 with an Apple 30W charger with 14.91V 1.89A 28.25W.

Charge the iPad Air 5 with an Apple 61W charger with 15.02V 2.17A 32.67W.

Charge the iPad Air 5 with an Apple 67W charger with 15.02V 2.12A 31.92W.

Charge the iPad Air 5 with an Apple 87W charger with 9.01V 2.93A 26.42W.

Charge the iPad Air 5 with an Apple 96W charger with 15.13V 2.07A 31.45W.

Finally, the iPad Air 5 was charged using apple 140W Gallium Nitride charger, with a power of 14.94V 2.12A 31.67W.

Summarize the data of the original charger for the iPad Air 5 charge, so that everyone can easily view it.

The histogram section clearly shows the amount of power output by each charger.

brief summary

iPad Air 5 is equipped with a USB-C charging interface, and supports USB PD fast charging, the actual use of Apple family barrel to charge the iPad Air 5, the highest power is about 32W, support up to 15V fast charging voltage.

Third-party charger compatibility testing

After reading the charging compatibility of Apple's official charger for the iPad Air 5, let's take a look at how compatible the third-party charger is for the iPad Air 5.

Charge the iPad Air 5 with an Anchor 20W charger with 8.66V 2.14A 18.61W.

Charge the iPad Air 5 with a 20W power transfer speed charger with 11.86V 1.61A 19.11W.

Charge the iPad Air 5 with a 30W charger with 14.98V 1.92A 28.81W.

Charge the iPad Air 5 with a 33W charger with 14.85V 1.92A 28.61W.

Charge the iPad Air 5 with a TEGIC 30W charger with 14.84V 1.77A 26.4W.

Charge the iPad Air 5 with an Anchor 40W charger with 14.77V 1.8A 26.71W.

Charge the iPad Air 5 with a Greenlink 40W charger with 8.99V 2.94A 26.5W.

Charge the iPad Air 5 with a Nubia 65W charger with 14.8V 2.09A 30.94W.

Charge the iPad Air 5 with an Anchor 65W charger with 14.79V 2.1A 31.19W.

Charge the iPad Air 5 with an AOHi 100W charger with 14.72V 2.15A 31.79W.

Finally, the iPad Air 5 was charged with a Flash Pole 140W charger with a power of 14.96V 2.16A 32.43W.

Summarize the charging test data of the third party for easy viewing.

The bar chart section can clearly see the level of charging power of each charger.

Several chargers with different power participating in the test have good fast charging compatibility for the iPad Air 5, triggering a maximum of 15V high-voltage fast charging and a maximum power of about 32W.

Full test of charging

Charging compatibility test can understand the fast charging support of each charger for iPad Air 5, but if you want to see the data change of charging, you still need to see the test of the whole charging process, the following is to use Apple 20W, 30W and 96W chargers to charge the iPad Air 5 to see the data changes throughout the charging process.

This is the data change of the whole process of charging with the original 20W charger of the iPad Air 5, the whole process is roughly divided into 3 stages, and the charging ends in 2 hours and 30 minutes, and the maximum power is 8.74V 2.13A 18.7W.

This is the data change of the whole process of charging the iPad Air 5 using the Apple 30W charger, the whole process is roughly divided into 3 stages, charging ends in 2 hours and 11 minutes, and the maximum power is 14.72V 1.87A 27.58W.

This is the data change of the whole process of charging the iPad Air 5 using the Apple 96W charger, the whole process is roughly divided into 3 stages, and the charging ends in 2 hours and 13 minutes, and the maximum power is 14.87V 1.96A 29.17W.

Here the data of the three charging processes is plotted into a graph, which is convenient for everyone to view the chargers of different power for the iPad Air 5 in a certain period of time.

Half an hour time point, 20W charger charging 26%, 30W charger charging 36%, 96W charger charging 35%;

1 hour time point, 20W charger charging 52%, 30W charger charging 68%, 96W charger charging 68%;

Fully charged, the 20W charger takes about 2 hours and 30 minutes, the 30W charger takes about 2 hours and 11 minutes, and the 96W charger takes about 2 hours and 12 minutes.

iPad Air 5 standard is a 20W power charger, the overall 30W charger charging curve has been significantly improved, 96W charger is not much improved. If you want to choose a backup fast charge head or upgrade the fast charge for the iPad Air 5, you can choose the charger in the 30W power band.

Charging head net summary

In a word, it is to feed the iPad Air 5 need 30W and above power PD charger, the whole charging time is about two hours, but the random 20W charger is also almost twenty minutes slower, if it is not impossible to use for environmental protection...

However, this time the iPad is equipped with an interface for USB3.1 transmission specifications, 10Gbps transfer speed, but the included data cable is USB2.0 specifications, want to transfer large files, may wish to purchase an additional full-featured data cable, while meeting the iPhone, MacBook transmission needs.