YouTube/Unbox Therapy
The Unbox Therapy YouTube channel tested nine different iPhone XS phones for charging issues.
- Some iPhone XS owners are reporting issues with charging their new iPhones.
- Affected iPhones won't begin charging when the screen is turned off. It'll only start charging when the iPhone is awakened.
- Some users said they need to unplug and replug the Lightning cable into their new iPhones.
- YouTube channel Unbox Therapy seemingly confirmed that some of the nine iPhones it tested had issues charging.
Some iPhone XS owners are reporting on the MacRumors forum and the Apple support forum that their new smartphones have charging issues.
Specifically, some say their new iPhones don't charge when plugged in, and when the screen is off. The affected iPhones only start charging when the screen is on, or after repeated attempts to unplug and replug the charging cable into the iPhone.
Some users said they plugged in their new iPhones at bedtime, only to realize in the morning that their phone wasn't charging overnight.
Lewis Hilsenteger of the popular Unbox Therapy YouTube channel tested the claims, and seemingly confirmed that some of the nine iPhone XS and XS Max phones he tested had issues with charging. The issue is more prevalent on the iPhone XS Max model. Hilsenteger went as far as to call the issue "ChargeGate."
YouTube/Unbox Therapy
The iPhone X, last year's new iPhone model, didn't run into any charging issues during Hilsenteger's test in the Unbox Therapy video.
Some have suggested that the charging issue could have something to do with the USB device protection feature that Apple included in iOS 11.4.1 and iOS 12. Apple's USB device protection feature is designed to protect your iPhone when it's plugged into a USB device, like a laptop, if the phone has been locked for an hour or more.
However, affected iPhone users reported that turning the feature off has no effect.
Whether the issue is related to software that can be fixed with an update, or whether it's a hardware issue that could result in a call-back event, is unclear. Business Insider reached out to Apple about the charging issue, but the company did not respond by the time of publication.
This "ChargeGate" issue - if we're going to call it that - is the third major issue that's affected the new iPhone XS. So far, poor WiFi/cell reception and performance, as well as a selfie camera that seemingly automatically smooths out facial details without the option to turn off the smoothing effect, have been reported.
You can watch the Unbox Therapy video about the charging issues with the iPhone XS below: