iPhone XS: Latest handsets not charging properly, leaving people without power

The problem does not seem to be limited entirely to recent models, and may be an issue with iOS 12

eople purchase the new iPhone XS and XS Max at the Apple store in Midtown Manhattan (Getty)

Some owners of the latest iPhones are finding that their handsets are not charging up properly – and they might not find out until they leave the house with no battery.

Numerous reports across the internet suggest that phones do not start charging when their charging cables are plugged in.

The issue appears to happen if the Lightning cable is plugged in but the phone's screen is off. Instead, users have to wake up or even log into their phone and then plug it in all over again before the phone will actually start powering up its battery.

Usually, iPhones need only to be plugged in – whatever state they are in – to start receiving power from a charger. The screen will pop up with a charging indicator that briefly covers the screen.

Users experiencing the new problem will not see that charging indicator and their phones won't start powering up until they have been woken up and plugged in.

The issue is especially frustrating since many people plug their phones in at night time and might not necessarily check whether the battery is actually charging.

Initially, reports seem to suggest that the problem was with Apple's new iPhone XS and XS Max handsets: popular YouTuber UnboxTherapy tried a number of phones and demonstrated them on video, suggesting it was a hardware issue with Apple's latest handsets.

But not all iPhone XS models are experiencing the problem. What's more, some people with older handsets are reporting similar behaviour.

That suggests the issue might actually be with iOS 12, Apple's latest iPhone software update. That means it could be fixed with a software update in the future.

Apple did change the way that iPhones treat things that are plugged into their Lightning ports in iOS 12. With a feature known as USB Restricted Mode, accessories are not able to connect to devices until their owners have entered their passcode, a change made to stop the use of malicious products that can attack iPhones through their port.

But that feature should only affect accessories that transfer data, rather than those that charge up phones, and so it is unlikely that is to blame for the recent problems.