Regulatory information hints at a faster 29W iPad Pro charger

iPad Pro Regulatory Charger 29W

The iPad Pro is a massive device, and as such, it contains a pretty significant bit of battery. Unfortunately, the iPad Pro comes with a 12 Watt charger, which makes charging times slow, especially if you use your device while it’s charging. In fact, if you pump your iPad Pro to maximum brightness, you might actually lose battery life even when it’s plugged in.

But there’s some potentially good news, as spotted by an eagle-eyed MacRumors forum member, the iPad Pro is capable of accommodating a much beefier charger than the one it ships with. Here’s why a faster iPad Pro charging solution might be in the cards…

Calculating wattage

First of all, a brief lesson on wattage. Wattage can be calculated by the following expression: Watts = Volts x Amps.

Simple, right?

If you look on the side of your iPad Pro’s 12W charger, you’ll see the following: Output 5.2V and 2.4A. That’s 5.2 volts and 2.4 amps. When you multiple 5.2 by 2.4 you get 12.48, which is rounded to the nearest whole number, 12.

Ipad Pro charger 12 watt

How much wattage can the iPad Pro handle?

The next question is whether or not the iPad Pro can handle more than 12W. To find the answer to this question, look no further than the iPad’s regulatory information, which is found in Settings → General → Regulatory.

iPad Pro Regulatory Mexico Wattage iPad Pro

Power information isn’t listed for countries like the U.S., but notice what we see under Mexico’s regulatory information. Yes, that’s the input wattage: 14.5V x 2A = 29W. It also lists the 5.2V X 2.4A (12W) of the standard iPad Pro charging brick that ships with the device. With this in mind, it’s totally possible that Apple could be planning another iPad Pro charging brick that can charge the device faster than the stock one can.

A 29W charger?

Now that we know that the iPad Pro supports a charger capable of outputting 29W, does Apple already have a charger like this that can deliver such power? Actually, yes, it does. Have a look at the 29W USB Type-C charger:

Apple 29W USB-C Power Adapter

This 49.00 charger was created with the 12″ MacBook in mind, as it features a USB-C connection instead of the typical USB connection used by Lightning cables. Unfortunately, it looks like the current Lightning cables that Apple sells aren’t capable of delivering the needed power from the 29W adapter to the iPad Pro. Lightning connectors use an 8-pin standard, but since the cable is reversible, there are actually 16 pins on the connector in total. Interestingly enough, the iPad Pro is the first iOS device to feature pins on both the top and the bottom of the female connector.

iPad pro Extra Pins

Extra pins on the bottom of the iPad Pro’s Lightning port

Perhaps a new Lightning cable will need to be released that can handle the extra power, similar to how Apple released an updated Lightning to SD Card Camera Reader that was capable of taking advantage of the iPad Pro’s new USB 3.0 speeds.

Whatever the case may be, having the ability to charge our iPad Pro’s at a faster rate would be a welcomed addition. Charging time is one of the few complaints that I have after using t device on a daily basis for the last two months.

What do you think? Would you entertain the idea of purchasing a faster charging solution for the iPad Pro?