The Galaxy S22’s 45 W charging doesn’t actually improve charge times

The bigger S22 models charge just as quickly at 25 W as they do at 45 W.

Ron Amadeo – Feb 22, 2022 1:05 pm | 125

The Galaxy S22 Ultra. It has a pen. Credit: Samsung

Just like the Pixel 6 before it, the Galaxy S22 seems to be claiming some misleading battery-charging specs. The Samsung Galaxy S22 is not yet released worldwide, but a few early reviews are trickling out, and GSMArena put Samsung's new "45 W" charging to the test. The site was not impressed with the results, calling the spec "misleading" thanks to not being any faster than the old 25 W charging.

Last year's Galaxy S21 Ultra maxed out at 25 W charging. This year, Samsung upgraded the S22+ and S22 Ultra to 45 W charging, and it sells a new charger (sold separately, of course). Charging should presumably be significantly faster, but it's not.

Last year, reports showed the 25 W S21 Ultra taking about 62 minutes to charge its 5000 mAh battery. This year, the Galaxy S22 Ultra has a "45 W" charger, and GSMArena clocked the phone at 59 minutes to charge its 5000 mAh battery. If we're trusting the marketing numbers, that's an 80 percent wattage increase for 5 percent faster charging—probably still in the margin of error for such a measurement.

The report also says that switching between the official 45 W chargers and the 25 W chargers on the same device doesn't really change the charging time. GSMArena says the Galaxy S22+ charged to full in 62 minutes on the 25 W charger and 61 minutes on the 45 W charger. The Ultra took 59 minutes on the 45 W charger and 64 minutes on the 25 W charger.

The report comes to the conclusion that "Samsung’s 45 W charging rate claim is outright misleading when, even paired with the original Samsung charger, it does not offer any real tangible benefits in terms of charging times over the 25 W solution."

Samsung is far behind the fast-charging race. Chinese OEMs like OnePlus and Xiaomi are constantly pushing the boundaries of fast-charging—one of the few smartphone updates that really makes a difference in day-to-day usage. OnePlus phones can charge in about half the time of Samsung's phones, around 30 minutes, with 65 W and 80 W charging solutions. Even if you don't charge your phone for the full half-hour, seeing the battery go up about 1 percent every 18 seconds really changes user behavior. Plugging a phone in all night seems less necessary when it charges so quickly.

We've asked Samsung for a comment and will update this article if we hear back.