Why are the plug sizes different on the iPhone and iPad? Can you charge either device with either plug? I was told the smaller plug was only for the iPhone and shouldn't be used on anything else. comments?
No.
Older iPad, iPod and iPhone used a 30 pin adapter/charger
Starting with the iPod Touch 5, iPhone 5, iPad 4 and the first iPad mini Apple changed to a smaller lighting charger that has no up or down like the 30 pin adapter.
They are not interchangeable.
If you have an iPad with Retina 4th Generation, iPad Mini, iPad Mini with Retina, iPod Touch 5th Generation, iPhone 5, iPhone 5c or iPhone 5s they all use the smaller Lightning connector and you can interchange the cables.
If you mean why are the chargers different, that is because the iPad, having larger batteries, needs more power to charge.
You can use the iPad charger with the iPod and iPhone...you cannot over power the devices. But charing the iPad with an iPhone charger will result in only a trickle charge going in and take a huge amount of time to charge.
I only carry the iPad charger when traveling and use it for both the iPhone and iPad.
If you mean the lightning vs 30-pin dock connector, those are two different generations of cabling and connector. All devices using the lightning connector are interchangable for the cable, all devices using the 30-pin connector are interchangable for cables.
You can also get a 30-pin to lightning adapter from the Apple store and on-line store.
Thank you. That helped. I tried to charge my iPad mini with retina display with the smaller charger that came with my iPhone 5. I noticed the plug got hot, so I guessed that wasn't a good idea and didn't do it after that. However, I've heard several people say that you could use either one, so I was getting confused. If someone would have explained that the smaller one has a different wattage than the bigger one (5 versus 10, I think), that might have helped me not to make that mistake. Lord knows, these devices cost enough as it is. I certainly don't want to potentially cause damage by using the wrong plug.
Thank you all for your replies.
You should not have damaged the components by trying to use the lower wattage charger so it was actually an easy thing to learn. Just keep in mind you can use a higher wattage charger with a lower wattage device, but the reverse is not a success path.
There are so many different chargers out now, the 5 watt iPod/iPhone, 10 watt and 12 watt iPad...30-pine and lightning connector, if you have a lot of devices keeping them straight can become a challange.
Easy solution, anytime you have a question, come on here and ask...we are all fellow users and not Apple employees and happy to share what we have learned over the years.
Why are the plug sizes different on the iPhone and iPad? Can you charge either with either one?
