Charging an Apple Watch options

Curious if anyone knows the answer to this as Apple support didn’t know.

Currently, I have an Apple Watch 8 which comes with an Apple Watch Magnetic Fast Charger to USB-C Cable.

I also have a MagSafe Duo Charger which I have used with my old AppleWatch.

I have a 20W Apple charger.

a) Using the same 20W Apple charger, does anyone know if it would be faster to charge using the Fast Charger cable vs the MagSafe Duo?

b) In rare occasions, if I need to charge my watch super fast, will it be faster if I use a 96W Apple charger (that I use with my laptop) vs the 20W? Apple says it’s safe to use the 96W charger but I didn’t know if it throttled down the power at all.

Thanks,

Paul

a) Yes, it’s faster if you use the new Fast Charging puck as the MagSafe Duo supports only the older, slower charging speeds, which is 5W for an Apple Watch. MagSafe Duo does not support fast charging:

b) It is safe to use the 96W charger but it will not be any faster than using the 20W adapter as the Apple Watch most certainly can’t draw 96W of power. I’m not sure what its maximum power draw is but given that the 18W adapter supports fast charging, it’s probably less than 18 W to fast charge. The devices negotiate the power draw on connecting the charger so you will not damage the watch by using the higher-rated power brick.

2 Likes

I’m pretty sure each device draws the power it needs, rather than the charger pushing a certain amount of power into the device. But I could be wrong.

2 Likes

Thank you for the help. At some point, maybe I’ll compare the two.