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Pixels and I get on reasonably well, but if there’s one area that I find myself constantly sighing loudly at, it’s charging the darn phones. Yes, you can just splash the cash on official accessories like the Pixel Flex 67W charger ($59.99 at Amazon), a mighty impressive USB-C adapter in its own right. But not all the accessories in Google’s charging ecosystem are as good — and I’m pointing fingers squarely at the PixelSnap charger ($39.99 at Amazon).
I’m still disappointed that Google has essentially abandoned my beloved Pixel Stand in favor of PixelSnap. While MagSafe undoubtedly has some conveniences for case accessories, it’s proven to be a significant downgrade in terms of what actually matters — charging times. Last year’s Pixel 10 Pro XL using PixelSnap proved to be over half an hour slower than the Pixel 9 Pro XL on the old Pixel Stand.
Given that Google is repromoting its 25W wireless charging capabilities across the entire series this year, I tested PixelSnap again on my Pixel 11 Pro XL to see if anything has changed. These results are a mixed bag — some things are better, but it’s still not a great experience.
Google’s 25W wireless charging isn’t what it seems
For starters, the wireless charger takes an absolute age to approach anything close to 25W (my model tapped out at 23W, far less than the 31W I clocked on the 10 Pro XL). It spent several minutes switching between 9V and 16V for some reason, perhaps probing what the phone’s temperatures and battery will allow. This is annoying because you typically expect a charger to start providing maximum power virtually right away, or at least within a few seconds of plugging in. Instead, it took the charger and phone about six minutes to lock in at peak charging power, increasing the time needed for a meaningful short top-up.
Unfortunately, it was only able to maintain peak power for about that long again; talk about disappointing. For all the talk of 25W capabilities, the PixelSnap remains firmly closer to a 15W model.
My Pixel 11 Pro XL spends very little time anywhere near the advertised 25W.
If there’s good news, the peak power level is slightly better sustained than last year. While the Pixel 10 Pro XL dipped to 10W within the first 30 minutes of its painfully slow charge cycle when I tested it last year, the Pixel 11 Pro XL stays closer to 15W for the best part of an hour. The net result is faster charging times than last year’s model, taking 119 minutes to full compared to 145, which is certainly significant. Better sustained power also means the Pixel 11 Pro XL reaches 50% battery in 47 minutes, compared to 61 minutes on the Pixel 10 Pro XL, another meaningful improvement.
But that’s about all the good news there is in this generation. Temperatures remain higher when using wireless charging, making the handset feel considerably warm to the touch. Internal temperatures are limited to 40°C (I didn’t test with Extreme Charging), which causes the phone to throttle back power after the initial faster-charging period. The average temperature of 37.4°C is about half a degree warmer than last year’s, so this year’s increase in speed isn’t free. The bottom line, though, is that charging with PixelSnap remains slower and hotter than even using a modest wired charger.
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