Samsung’s new Galaxy S22 Plus and S22 Ultra support maximum charging speeds of 45W, which sounds like a massive improvement over their predecessor’s 25W charging. The charger isn’t included in the box, meaning you will have to spend an additional $50 to enjoy faster charging. But is 25W really that big an improvement over 45W?
In our test, we found that the Galaxy S22 Ultra, which packs a 5,000mAh battery, requires 62 minutes for a full charge using the new 45W charger and 70 minutes at 25W, so evidently not much of a difference.
The folks over at Android Authority also carried out a detailed assessment to ascertain whether there is any tangible benefit to getting the new charger. Galaxy S22 Plus and Ultra’s 45 charger supports Samsung’s Fast Charging 2.0 specification, and last year’s 25W charger supports the first-gen Fast Charge protocol. Both are compatible with the USB Power Delivery PPS standard, meaning you are free to choose any other compatible 45W adapter as well. You can also juice up the phones using any brick that supports either Qualcomm Quick Charge or Samsung’s Adaptive Fast Charge standards.
The outlet’s results were similar to ours and they add that the new 45W charger’s peak power is sustained for just a minute, and for the most part, the speed is in the neighborhood of 30W, which explains why it doesn’t charge significantly faster than the 25W charger.
That’s not necessarily a bad thing, as higher charging speeds could reduce battery lifespan in the long run. That said, if you already own the 25W Samsung charger, you will not benefit much from upgrading to the 45W charger.
As for the battery life, it’s not exactly stellar, and in our test, it performed the best during gaming sessions, but with the GOS kill switch out now, battery life will probably take a hit. Samsung was limiting the performance of a lot of apps previously to prolong the battery life at the expense of performance.
Overall though, the Galaxy S22 Ultra is easily one of the best smartphones around, thanks to its bright display, impressive camera system, and built-in S Pen.
