The iPhone SE 2020 (or iPhone SE 2) offers great value for money but has one major flaw – a small battery. Also, it came with the slow Apple 5-watt charger, and now does not even come with a charger in the box! Good news is that the iPhone SE 2020 supports three times faster 18-watt USB-C PD charging (zero to 60% in about 30 mins) with a USB-C PD charger using a USB-C to Lightning cable. An 18-watt (or higher) USB-C power adapter such as Anker Nano USB-C charger will fast-charge iPhone SE 2020 at its maximum possible speed.
The iPhone SE 2020 also supports wireless charging and you can use a wireless charger stand or a wireless power bank to keep it constantly charged without any cables.
Here are some of the ways to quickly charge the iPhone SE 2020 at its fastest supported 18-watt charging speed –
Fast-charge iPhone SE 2020 with USB-C charger
iPhone SE 2020 can be fast-charged at its maximum possible speed by any 18 or 20-watt USB-C PD charger. All you need for this is a USB-C PD charger and a USB-C to Lightning cable. You can even get a charger + cable combo these days for around $20.
Since October 2020, iPhone SE 2020 comes with a USB-C to Lightning cable in the box and all you need to fast charge it is a good USB-C PD charger.
To fast-charge the SE 2020, we recommend Anker Nano 18w PD Fast charger because of its excellent value proposition and compatibility with latest iPhone 13/12/11 and iPads, as well as solid build, and an elegant compact design. The charger will top-up the SE 2 from empty to 60% in about 30 minutes which is almost three times as fast as the stock Apple 5-watt charger for SE 2.
If you often charge two phones at same time or carry a portable charger around, then a dual port charger such as AmazonBasics 36-watt charger is a better choice than a single port charger as it will charge two phones (or one phone and a power bank) at the same time. With the AmazonBasics 36-watt Dual charger’s dual 18-watt USB-C output, you can simultaneously charge your iPhone SE 2020 along with any another iPhone 13/12/11/XR (or an iPad or a power bank) at the fastest possible speeds.
A dual port charger will charge both your iPhone SE 2020 and your iPad simultaneously at fastest possible speeds as all the new iPads also support USB-C fast charging. If you have an old iPhone or old portable charger then you can get best of both worlds with a dual port charger that has one USB-C PD port and one regular USB port such as Anker Powerport PD 2.
Another great use of USB-C chargers is while charging power banks (portable chargers). Power banks have big batteries and take forever to charge with the SE wall charger. All good power banks such as the futureproof ZMI 10000 PD power bank or the Anker PowerCore Slim 10000 PD support USB-C PD charging. The charger will charge the power banks in one third (!!!) the time taken by the iPhone charger. For example, PowerCore Slim 10000 will take almost 12-14 hours or more to get charged by the iPhone stock charger whereas it will take just 4 hours by the Anker PowerPort 2 dual port charger.
Charge iPhone SE 2020 faster with a dual 2.4 amp adapter (Ultra Low cost fast-charge for SE 2020)
What if you do not want to spend around $20 for fast-charging the SE 2020 and still want twice the charging speed? Good news is that you can do that for just around $10! The cost-effective solution is to get a dual 12-watt (or 2.4 amps) charger such as the PowerAdd 24-watt dual adapter or the Anker Powerport Elite 2. A dual port charger with two 2.4 amp USB output ports will charge your SE 2020 two times faster than stock Apple SE 2020 5-watt charger. You can also use the second USB port to charge another iPhone, iPad or Android phone fast at no extra cost.
If you use a 12-watt (or 2.4 amps) charger such as Anker Powerport Elite 2, you need not buy any new cable for fast-charging the SE 2020.
Fast-charge iPhone SE 2020 with Portable Chargers
USB-C portable chargers are an excellent solution for charging iPhone SE 2020 at fastest speeds on-the-go. These chargers are equivalent to a USB-C PD fast wall charger when it comes to fast-charging the iPhone SE 2020. Our two most preferred USB-C power banks are Anker PowerCore Slim 10000 PD and ZMI 10K Powerpack USB-C as they charge all latest iPhones/Samsung phones at fast speeds, have robust design and come at a decent price.
As prices of PD power banks have fallen steeply in last one year, we highly recommend that you get a USB-C PD power bank for your iPhone SE as a future-proof purchase. We recommend Anker PowerCore Slim 10000 PD , AmazonBasics 10000 USB-C , or ZMI 10000 PD, as all these have offer excellent quality and can be charged with the micro-USB cables just like all other power banks. ZMI is a brand of Xiaomi – the world’s 3rd largest phone maker after Apple and Samsung – and has been offering premium power banks for many years.
If you want an even lower cost solutio, then QuickCharge portable chargers can fast-charge iPhone SE at twice the speed of Apple SE charger – not as fast as USB-C power banks but still much faster. Power banks such as ZMI PowerPack 10K, or Anker PowerCore Slim 10000 support Quickcharge and will fast-charge the iPhone SE 2020. Such power banks will also fast-charge most latest Samsung/Android phones.
Charge iPhone SE 2020 faster with Samsung/LG/Pixel/Moto Adapters
All latest Android phones such as all Samsung and Pixel/LG/Moto phones these days ship with USB-C PD chargers while older Samsungs/LG phones come with Quickcharge 3.0/2.0 compatible wall chargers. These Samsung/Android chargers will also charge the iPhone SE 2020 (as well as iPhone 13/12/11/XR/XS/8/8+ ) at its fastest possible charging speed of empty to 50% in 20 mins. If you own older Samsung/LG/Moto phone chargers, then you can charge the iPhone SE at a much fast rate (twice as fast as Apple SE 2020 charger).
Besides this, the iPhone SE 2020 can also be fast-charged twice as fast as iPhone SE 2020 stock charger with any power bank such as Anker PowerCore Slim 10000.
iPhone SE 2020 Fast-Charge: What It Does and Does Not Do
An important point to remember is that the iPhones support fast-charging only till the battery level reaches 80%. The charging current drops down to 1 amp or lower once the battery gets 60% charged, and after that, the charging speed for the remainder of the battery (from 80% to 100%) is same whether you use a 1 amp charger or 2 amp charger or a 18-watt USB-C charger . This means that fast-charging is supported by iPhones only when the battery is at a very low level. For example, if you start charging from zero, the iPhone SE 2020 will get charged from level zero to 50% in about 60 minutes by the standard iPhone charger but will charged in just about 20 minutes from an 18 watt USB_C charger. This is almost 3 times faster charging. However, if you start charging from 80%, the charging time will be same whether you use a 1 amp charger or 2.4 amp charger.
Also, the battery size of the iPhone is an important factor in determining the time that a 180watt charger will take to charge the iPhone. The bigger the battery size, the more time you will save with a 2.4 amp charger in comparison to a 1 amp charger. For example, iPhone SE 2 will get fully charged (zero to 100%) from an 18 watt USB_C charger in about 1 hour less than the stock Apple 1 amp charger.