Can I use my old charging plug with a new iPhone or iPad?

You can't use an old USB-A charging plug with the cable supplied with any new iPhone or iPad. If you already have a USB-C Apple charging plug then you can certainly use that with any new Apple iPhone or iPad using the cable supplied in the box but many  of us will still have the previous USB-A charging plugs. . Apple's old charging plugs, like most others, had a USB-A socket into which a USB-A to lightning cable could be inserted. Lightning is a proprietary Apple standard and is now replaced by USB-C, an international standard, on all iPads and iPhones currently sold by Apple. USB-C plugs and sockets are similarly sized to lightning plugs and sockets but are not compatible. USB-C is now being adopted as the universal standard and Apple supplies a cable with the latest iPhones and iPads that has USB-C plugs at boath ends. Apple does not supply a charger with most of its devices now, just a cable. For use in conjunction wih the new cables, Apple sells a 20 Watt charger plug with a USB-C socket  priced at £19. Apple describe this as a 20W USB-C Power Adapter. Apple also sells higher power chargers for faster charging. Investing in a new USB-C charger is your best  solution since USB-A is being phased out rapidly by most manufacturers. An alternative which I considered and rejected  is cheap adapters which allow you to continue to use your current charger; I found a 3-pack of USB-A to USB-C adapters on Amazon for about £6 but the reviews made it clear that many people found these to be useless. Another option is to purchase an Apple-certified USB-A to USB-C cable but this won't save much in view of the relatively low cost of Apple's 20 Watt charger. USB-A cables and chargers will soon be following other standards like SCART into obscurity; it's probably best just to move on. My advice is to purchase the new 20 Watt USB-C charging plug from Apple or one of the higher wattage chargers if you need faster charging. 

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