How to tell if your phone charger supports fast charging

Phone chargers are simple things you plug them into a wall outlet or USB-C port (on a laptop or power bank), then plug the other end into your phone, allowing it to charge easily. However, more and more phones have started to support fast charging, which puts more demand on the technology you have at your disposal (especially now that phone makers tend to exclude the wall plug with new phone sales).

You’ll often want to charge your phone as quickly as possible, so let’s talk about how you can do that.

How do I use fast charging with a phone charger?

Fast charging isn’t just a setting you toggle in settings, it’s a hard limit to where your phone can charge.

Most USB-C cables are capable of delivering up to 100W (watts), which is more than enough for almost any phone with fast charging capabilities:

Google Pixel 7 Pro can fast-charge up to 23W (a first-party 30W plug is sold separately)

The Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra can fast-charge at up to 45W (a first-party 45W plug is sold separately)

The iPhone 14 Pro Max can fast-charge at up to 27W (a first-party 20W plug is sold separately).

Also, yes we know, the iPhone 14 Pro Max nouse a USB-C cable, instead of using a Lightning to USB-C cable with a maximum power of 96W.

Each of these phones can reportedly reach 50 percent battery capacity in just 30 minutes with the manufacturer’s proprietary wall plug and cord, with the rate of charging decreasing as the battery gets more charged (this to conserve battery life).

But there are some caveats to this.

How to know if your phone charger supports fast charging

For starters, the cable itself needs to be a USB-C to USB-C or Lightning to USB-C cable (for iPhones). USB-A simply has a lower wattage which makes fast charging impossible (7.5W maximum).

But the plug and the maximum power it can deliver for fast charging are the key. Apple’s iPhone plug offers 20W fast charging capacity, Google’s Pixel plug offers 30W fast charging capacity, and Samsung’s plug offers 45W fast charging.

While the maximum wattage of the plug may not be perfectly aligned with the maximum wattage of the phone, it is with the wattage of these plugs that phone manufacturers claim fast charging can be achieved. If you’re unsure of the wattage of a plug, you can look behind it (somewhere next to its wall studs) and it will probably have a rated wattage.

Also, if you’re plugging your device directly into something without the need for an outlet (like the side of a laptop or car), you may experience lower wattage and therefore slower charging speed, just because the port itself has a slower reload speed. This is less common with USB-C ports, but if you need to use a USB-A port, it’s just something to be aware of. You can usually check the maximum wattage of any of these ports by checking the model of your laptop or car online.

Bottom line: if you’re shopping for a fast charger, checking the maximum wattage of the plugs should be your priority. If the wattage of the plug matches the manufacturers, you should be able to get fast charging.

Which should I buy?

If you want to avoid maximum confusion, it’s best to purchase the proprietary cable and plug offered by the phone charger manufacturer, but a plug with the same wattage as the manufacturer’s spec version should suffice if you want to get the best charging speeds. possible. .

Also, if you’re confused about a cable’s maximum wattage, most USB-C/lightning to USB-C cables made for phones are rated for power delivery up to 100W, but it’s worth checking the rating. power before buying just to be sure. Most third-party manufacturers usually list the wattage or compatibility with the previously mentioned charging speeds from zero to 50% in 30 minutes.

It’s likely that, in the future, changes to power delivery technology will result in much more powerful USB-C chargers (up to 240W!), but for now, when it comes to most phones, we just need to worry about it. of wattages below 50 W.