Apple just leaked a dual-port 35W USB-C charger that could clear up the GaN mystery

See this white brick? It puts out a measly 30W of power to a single device, yet Apple charges $50 for it. Please do not buy one because we now have firm evidence that Apple is about to replace it with something much, much better — a 35W charger with two ports, likely powered by gallium nitride (GaN) technology that might also make it smaller.

That’s the word from 9to5Mac, which got this particular scrap of information from by far the most reliable source of Apple leaks: Apple’s own website. Apparently, the company accidentally threw a support document live for an “Apple 35W Dual USB-C Port Power Adapter,” and 9to5 managed to snap a screenshot before it was pulled.

This is likely the “about 30W” GaN charger that analyst Ming-Chi Kuo tweeted about last month, which he said would have “a new form factor design” and arrive in 2022.

You could fast charge an iPhone 13 Pro Max and an Apple Watch at the same time with that level of power, or an M1 MacBook Air and a watch, or an iPad and an Apple Watch, or a pair of iPhones, or an iPad Pro and an iPhone at a slower rate, or… it’s USB-C, so there are a lot of possibilities.

It wouldn’t be Apple’s first GaN charger — that would be the 140W power adapter it shipped with the new 16-inch MacBook Pro. But unless I’m mistaken, it would be the first dual-port charger Apple has ever made and certainly the first with USB-C.

In fact, there’s a dual-USB-C-shaped hole seemingly waiting for it in the Apple Store. Apple carries Belkin chargers that have a single USB-C port and a 32W charger with both USB-C and USB-A ports, but not Belkin’s dual-USB-C charger — and that’s Apple’s premier accessories partner we’re talking about. You can obviously find quite a few dual-port USB-C chargers outside of the Apple Store, though, including many with higher speeds.

Note that this device would offer 35W total, not 35W per port. 9to5Mac says the support doc states each port can operate in one of the following four modes: either 5VDC/3A, 9VDC/3A, 15VDC/2.33A, or 20VDC/1.75A. That should easily allow two devices to charge at 15W or one at 27W and one at 5W, but we’ll have to see which combinations of devices might work.

The support document doesn’t suggest when the charger might arrive but does say that a USB-C cable will not be included.