Metering iPhone, iPad, and Moto Z2 Force Edition

Hi all,

Like @TechnicallyWell, my name is Ryan and I’m a metering addict.

Today I’m going to compare three products and relative power uptake on their native charging setups. First of all, iPhone 6s on an Apple-made iPad pro charger (rated 12w, or 5.4V/2.4A) at 77% charging fairly slowly (

Same iPhone 6s on the same setup at 68% charging substantially faster:

Takeaway: Apple’s trickle charge is real and quite dramatic, as @nigelhealy and others have noted.

Next up, iPad Air 2 at 65% on the same charger as above, charging very quickly:

Takeaway: iPad Air 2 charges more quickly than iPhone, but substantially larger battery probably still results in similar chargin time.

Finally, my new moto Z2 Force edition (my first android phone), on the Moto Turbo Charger that it shipped with, outperforming them all:

Obviously, that’s over 12W. I don’t have an Anker battery that could provide that kind of charge to my knowledge.

However, something weird is going on with the Turbo Charge setup, because even though it tops out higher than anything else, it jumps all over the place. Have a look:

Does anyone have an idea of what would create such a volatile connection? I’m just learning about power delivery, so I’m curious if anyone has insight on that or has seen it on a consumer device before.

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Not an expert.

Power coming out of your wall outlet isn’t exactly “clean” and needs to be conditioned. Most wall chargers nowadays have over charge, under charge and other protection in place that probably help produce smoother output and thus, more steady readings from your meter.

In the video, do you have the Moto Z2 Force connected to the OEM Moto Turbo Charger?
It is odd that it jumps between 1.75A and 2.2A, but depending on what your phone is doing (backing up, updating apps, downloading files, etc) it could be completely normal. For example, I see a significant jump (about 0.35A to 0.50A) if my iPad screen is turned on while charging. If it was jumping back and forth between say 0.5A to 2.4A, that would be more worrisome.

I just turned on photo backups, and I was taking many photos of various meter readings just then, so it may have been backing up to the cloud. I think I’ll re-test when I’m sure the background is quiet.

The charger is the one that shipped with the moto z2 force edition. It’s rated 5V@3A / 9V@1.6A / 12V@1.2A which is a little weird in an of itself and may violate the USB-C standard:

Apparently it was something to do with the power supply. At home, as opposed to the office, I got a steady 5.3V 2.8A reading into the moto on the turbo charge setup. I did observe jumps in the amps at work when using the phone - it would hit 2.3A when when browsing to a new webpage, for instance, even though it was most steady at 1.8A when not in use. However, at home, it was 5.3V 2.8A without regard to the activity on the phone.