Rita El Khoury / Android Authority
Maybe it’s just the sheer number of phones that cross my desk, but I have a love-hate relationship with USB-C. It’s great that I can charge my headphones, laptop, and latest Android smartphones with the same plug, but figuring out whether my gadgets are actually charging optimally is often just a matter of shrugging and hoping for the best.
As I’ve whined about countless times, USB-C still has too many different flavors for fast charging. Whether that’s proprietary options like OnePlus’ SuperVOOC or Xiaomi’s HyperCharge, standard USB Power Delivery, or one of the newer USB PD PPS modes, with umpteen phones flying across my desk each year, keeping track of exactly what I need to charge each one efficiently is near impossible. Throw in the complication of 3A, 5A, and 6A USB-C cables, and there’s little hope for consumers to understand why their phone might be charging slowly — even I have to resort to my trusty power meter.
Android tries to help, at least somewhat, by letting you know whether your charger is delivering a decent level of power. I’m sure you’ve all clocked your phone’s “fast charging” or “X minutes to full” lockscreen text snippet. While showing the time remaining is helpful for gauging whether you’re charging unusually slowly, it doesn’t help users diagnose why things might be off.
Between plugs, protocols, and cables, it's very difficult to know if your phone is charging optimally.
Android 15 improved the setup a little for Pixel phones by boosting its “fast” charging snippet from a pitiful 7.5W to a modest 20W. However, the variation of user-facing prompts across phone brands remains inconsistent, if I’m being polite, because the setup is completely open for brands to flavour how they want. To illustrate just how messy it is, I tested four phones with four USB-C chargers and logged what each one reports on the lockscreen and the actual power level.
Basic USB-A Fast USB-A 30W USB-C PD 240W USB-C PPS Galaxy S25 Ultra
Basic USB-A N/A
2.5W
Fast USB-A “Fast Charging”
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