iPhone XS ‘Chargegate’: Users report new iPhones don’t charge when plugged in

The Unbox Therapy YouTube
channel tested nine different iPhone XS phones for charging
issues.
YouTube/Unbox
Therapy

• 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: