The Apple Watch Series 7, released in 2021, was the first Apple smartwatch capable of fast charging. It was a big step forward, with the promise that the Watch could go from flat to 80% in around 45 minutes.
The catch was that you needed the fast-charging module supplied in the box to get the speedy magic. Almost all wireless charging devices from third-party manufacturers use the slower charging puck Apple made before but, according to Apple Insider, that’s not going to happen for much longer. Apple is going to require companies to buy the fast-charging module for their devices. Which means faster charging for everyone with an Apple Watch Series 7 or 8 and Apple Watch Ultra. it will also, doubtless, apply to this year’s additions, that is Apple Watch Series 9 and Apple Watch Ultra 2, expected to be released on Friday, September 22 after a launch event on September 12.
The Apple Watch charging puck is a delightful piece of design, and the older and newer versions look more or less identical. Which is why it was easy for third-party manufacturers to get away with the older, slower puck when buying them from Apple—and it didn’t hurt that they were cheaper, too.
At first, it seems, it was also down to scarcity, so it may be that supply restrictions also led to the older charging module being put in place.
And, to be clear, there are already a few accessories on the market that include fast charging. In fact, the first was the Belkin BoostCharge Fast Wireless Charger for Apple Watch + Power Bank 10K which I’ll be reviewing here soon and which is a classy-looking piece of kit. You can see pictures of it in this post.
But now, as Apple is only going to supply the faster model, it means compatible Watches will charge faster. Not all Watches are compatible, though: versions older than Series 7 plus the latest Apple Watch SE only charge at a slower rate and come with the older charging module.
But those older models are still compatible with the newer charger, they just don’t do their job as quickly.
According to Apple Insider, accessory manufacturers can still submit product plans to the Made For Apple program until the end of this month, but can only order the original module until September 30, 2023. Which almost certainly means that all future accessories, those in the pipeline just yet, will have the faster version, called the C962 Fast Charge.
Which leads to an interesting question: will Apple change to the faster module for products like the Apple Watch SE? The C962 is more expensive to build, it seems, but surely Apple won’t want to manufacture two different versions—economies of scale could make it more cost-effective to just make one.
It may have the side effect that new chargers are more expensive, but as more people have compatible Watches, will arguably be a benefit worth paying extra for.
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