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what risks about Apple chargers always plugged in? I want to leave my iPhone and iPad chargers always plugged under my desk (so I can just connect my device when I want to charge) but I'm worried that they shouldn't be plugged all the time.

Sybil
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C Du Toit
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    What about them? There's not actually a question here. – Tetsujin Jan 08 '18 at 16:15
  • Plug them into an extension lead that has a switch - then turn them off when not needed, that way you can reduce some of the wasted energy... – Solar Mike Jan 08 '18 at 16:18
  • @FyodorGlebov take the power consumed and multiply by time - normally power in kW and time in hours - if you then multiply by the number of phones in the country it is often used as a reason for extra power stations ie that people are too lazy to turn things off... – Solar Mike Jan 08 '18 at 17:05

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If we are talking about fire risk, it is negligible for official Apple chargers. Non-zero, but pretty close to zero. Low-cost knockoffs have a significantly higher fire and shock risk due to cheap parts and sketchy wiring; UL produced an article showing a 99% failure rate of counterfeit chargers.

If we are talking about electrical pull, it is also negligible. Less than 0.1 watts pulled when a phone is not plugged in. You could have more than 150 chargers plugged in and you'd still pull less than a 10-watt light bulb. A single charger costs less than 25 cents and produces 1.5 lbs of carbon emissions (I assumed a liberal 1kWh to calculate this) for a whole year of being plugged in without a phone attached.

It is still a waste of energy and a non-zero percent fire risk, but it's up to you whether those minuscule risks, costs, and pollution amounts are even worth the energy and time expended unplugging it when not in use.

drivec
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Leaving something plugged in all the time not only increases risk of fire / personal injury, but also increases the cost of the electricity bill. Obviously.

It is not worth the cost and risk to save a few seconds. If you want to consider convenience in more depth, you could consider using portable chargers or purchase an extension cable, plug your cables in, and switch it off until you require it to be used.

Ben Steele
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    Aren't hard wired switches always plugged in as well? Could you elaborate on this specifically about Apple products? Many have measured negligible to zero phantom power drain on Apple iOS adapters so this seems to go against some reasonable attempts to measure this. – bmike Jan 08 '18 at 19:58