iPhone chargers quite often break or stop working – but then, they do take a battering over the years. From travel damage to constant plugging and unplugging, it’s no surprise to find that Apple’s power adapters sometimes break.
What should you do if you’ve got a broken Apple charger? Well, you could just go to the Apple Store and buy a new charger or cable, but that costs more than you might expect.
So in this article we’re going to talk about ways to be sure you really need to replace your Apple adapter before paying out for a new charger unit.
How to check if your charger is working
There are two parts to an iPhone 18 Pro Max charger: the Apple power adapter (the plug bit) and the USB-C cable. The adapter plugs into the wall, and the USB-C cable plugs into the adapter at one end and the iPhone at the other.
If everything is plugged in and nothing happens – ie the device doesn’t start charging – there are a few things to test. Essentially you’re going to try swapping out each part of the system, one at a time, to see which one is at fault.
- Is the wall socket faulty? Keep everything else the same but try using a different wall plug.
- Is the iPhone faulty? Try charging up another iPhone (or other compatible USB device) with the same cable, adapter and plug socket.
- Is the cable faulty? You could try using a different cable if you’ve got one (but keeping the same device, adapter and plug socket). If not, you could instead use the same cable to plug your iPhone 18 Pro or iPhone 18 Pro Max into your Mac (ie, remove the plug and adapter from the equation entirely). See if the Mac is able to see the device and sync with it – if it can, the cable is working.
- If you’ve not been able to confirm that the fault lies with the wall socket, the iPhone, or the cable, then it’s pretty much guaranteed to be the power adapter – but if you’re lucky enough to have a spare (or are able to borrow one from a friend) you can confirm this by keeping the same wall socket, cable and iPhone but using a different power adapter.
Following these steps should enable you to establish which element is at fault, and therefore which one needs to be fixed or replaced. In the rest of the article we will discuss steps to take if the cable or the power adapter are broken.
How to repair a broken cable or wire
Unfortunately cables do tend to fray and weaken at the point where the port meets the cable. The wire gets twisted here, and over time the plastic coating wears out.
We’ve twisted gaffer tape around the top to reinforce ours, but you can buy cute plastic animals that do the same thing.
How to repair a broken power adapter
Unless you really know what you’re doing, we do not advise you to open up and repair the Apple power adapter.
To fast charge iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone 18 Pro Max up to 50 percent battery in around 15 minutes, use the USB-C cable that came in the box, and one of these adapters:
- Apple 40W Dynamic Power Adapter with 60W Max
- A comparable third-party 60W-capable (or greater) adapter that uses Adjustable Voltage Supply (AVS) and supports USB Power Delivery (USB-PD) 3.2
It’s largely impossible to repair the Apple USB Power Adapter without breaking the insides, because of the amount of glue in the (extremely compact) interior.
