How do you choose the right fast charger?

To charge your smartphone extra fast, you also need the right charger and cable in addition to a device which supports fast charging. To find out which charger is the right one, ask yourself the following:

• Does my smartphone support fast charging?
• If so, which fast charging protocol does my smartphone have?
• Do I have the correct cable?

Not sure if your smartphone supports fast charging? Look up your device on our site and check the specifications.

A fast charging protocol is a technology which makes fast charging possible. Power Delivery and Quick Charge are general protocols that are used by various brands. There are also brand-specific protocols such as OnePlus Warp Charge, which only OnePlus uses. Your device and charger need the same fast charging protocol to charge fast and safely. Do you use a charger with a different fast charging protocol than your smartphone? Your device will charge, but not at maximum speed. You have no use for your fast charger this way.

Samsung has 2 own fast charging protocols. One is Adaptive Fast Charging, which is an adapted version of Quick Charge. The other one is Super Fast Charging, an adapted version of Power Delivery. All Samsung smartphones work with Adaptive Fast Charging/Quick Charge. This allows you to charge your empty battery for 40% within half an hour. More and more new devices work with the faster Super Fast Charging. This allows you to charge your empty battery for 60% in half an hour. Many models support Super Fast Charging, including the S and Note series since the S20/Note 20, and specific A series devices like the A52 and A72.

All iPhone models from iPhone 8 upwards support extra fast charging via Power Delivery. The devices can then handle up to 20W power. After half an hour of charging at 20W, your battery is about 50% full. With a 5W iPhone charger, you won't get above 20% in that time. Several iPad models also support fast charging, especially those in the iPad Pro series. They can usually handle a higher output of 29W, which makes charging even faster.

Smartphones from Sony and Xiaomi work with Power Delivery like Apple. Huawei and Motorola use a modified version of Quick Charge, so both original chargers and Quick Charge chargers are suitable for fast charging those smartphones. High-end devices in the Huawei Pro and Mate series can handle such high power that you can only get the maximum speed with dedicated Huawei chargers. OnePlus and OPPO both have their own fast charging protocol. You can only fast charge those devices with the original charger.

Carefully check the connector of your cable. Power Delivery fast chargers have an oval USB-C connector, instead of the old rectangular USB-A connector. You need a cable with USB-C on one end and Lightning on the other for the iPhone 14 and older models. For the iPhone 15 and newer models as well as smartphones from other brands, use a cable with USB-C on both ends. Buy a charger with a cable to be sure that your cable and charger match.