Samsung should've used Galaxy AI to figure out how to upgrade S24 charging speeds

Looking at the different colorways of the Samsung Galaxy S24
(Image credit: Nicholas Sutrich / Android Central)
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For better or for worse, the Galaxy S24 is all the rage at the moment. If you're even the least bit interested in tech, you've probably been pouring all over the different opinions and takes on the new Galaxy S series from Samsung.

Between the good, the bad, and the neutral, there's a tiny sliver of information that's been bugging me a lot. We've gone over the entire spec sheet of the S24, S24 Plus, and S24 Ultra, and somehow, no one is outraged by the charging speeds of the trio.

Celebrate the Galaxy AI features and spanking new 50MP telephoto camera all you want; that's all fine and dandy with me, but let's take a moment to talk about the dreary wired charging speeds for a moment because I don't feel like this is getting as much limelight as it should.

Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra charging via a USB-C cable.

(Image credit: Namerah Saud Fatmi / Android Central)

To refresh your memory, these are the wired and wireless charging speeds supported by all three S24 phones.

Swipe to scroll horizontally
Header Cell - Column 0 Samsung Galaxy S24Samsung Galaxy S24 PlusSamsung Galaxy S24 Ultra
Wired25W45W45W
Wireless15W15W15W

Okay, so now that we've looked at the existing numbers, let me take you on a trip down memory lane. Believe it or not, Samsung hasn't changed the wired charging speeds of its Galaxy S series devices since the Galaxy Note 10 Plus for its stylus-touting replacement of the Note series. That's five years of saturation in this category.

And it's just as bad when you look at the S Plus and basic S models. The Galaxy S24 Plus boasts the same 45W USB-C charging as its Ultra counterpart, identical to the S22 Plus from 2022. This isn't nearly as frustrating when you compare it to the measly charging capability of its smaller sibling.

Samsung hasn't updated the Galaxy S series' charging speed in four to five years.

The petite Galaxy S24 fuels up at a snail's pace, giving you 25W PD 3.0 Type-C charging in 2024. Embarrassingly, this number hasn't changed since the ancient Samsung Galaxy S20 roamed the earth four years ago, practically the Mesozoic era in the smartphone timeline.

That's about four to five years of stagnation. Deary me is that old. I mean, we're talking four to five years from today, which is like 400 to 500 years in the consumer tech space.

If you're here to tell me that we don't need anything faster than that, I can show you the door right now. Either you're my retired grandfather, or you've got zero interest in living a modern lifestyle.

Acefast Crystal Charger

(Image credit: Harish Jonnalagadda / Android Central)

How do we even begin to unpack this? Starting with the basic Galaxy S24 or jumping on to the S24 Ultra, you're paying nearly a thousand or over a thousand dollars for these phones. Chinese brands like Xiaomi, OnePlus, RedMagic, and Vivo are able to sell devices that rival the S24 series in specs for a cheaper price and faster charging. Why can't Samsung?

The OnePlus 12 launched with 100W wired and 50W wireless charging. The Xiaomi 14 touts 90W wired and 50W wireless charging, whereas its Pro variant sports 120W wired and 50W wireless charging. The Vivo X100 Pro packs in 100W wired and 50W wireless charging. Need I go on?

Heck, there are Android phones from four years ago that came out around the same time as the S20 but still charge faster. For instance, the RedMagic 5G came with 55W fast wired charging back in the day.

Things are looking very poor for Samsung — and I haven't even touched the wireless charging subject yet.

iOttie iON Wireless Duo wireless charging stand

(Image credit: Namerah Saud Fatmi / Android Central)

Going back to that fun little table I referred to earlier, the Samsung Galaxy S24 series all come with 15W Qi wireless charging across the board. If the wired charging hasn't been upgraded for four to five years now, how about wireless charging?

Well, I'm sorry to report that there's been nothing new since the Galaxy S10, circa 2019. This was before Samsung unified its S series and Note series under a single banner.

Prepare yourself for the butt of the joke because this is what Samsung had to say about the charging speeds on the Galaxy S24 lineup:

We've been focusing on providing extremely fast wireless charging within our devices.

This was in the midst of a conversation about Qi2 not coming to the S24 series. It took a random person testing accessories for us to find out that the possible reason for Qi2's exclusion in the S24 lineup was interference with the S Pen. We didn't get a proper answer for that, and I guess we won't get one for this either.

Samsung says it has been focusing on "extremely fast wireless charging," but it certainly doesn't seem like it. Getting the same old 15W Qi wireless charging for the past five years on its most expensive family of phones is ridiculous, and it certainly does not match that statement.

So, what is proper fast wireless charging? Literally anything from one of the phones I mentioned earlier. I'd be happy with something between 50W and 80W, even though we know that wireless charging speeds exceeding 100W are possible and available in some flagships.

The bottom line is we all know that Samsung could do better. They have the money and the resources to do better. But they choose not to upgrade the charging specs because they think they're already doing great.

Samsung, honey, you're embarrassing yourself. For the love of all that is holy, please do something about this.

Namerah Saud Fatmi
Senior Editor — Accessories

Namerah enjoys geeking out over accessories, gadgets, and all sorts of smart tech. She spends her time guzzling coffee, writing, casual gaming, and cuddling with her furry best friends. Find her on Twitter @NamerahS.

  • fuzzylumpkin
    They should definitely be doing better in this area, but it's also kind of a non-issue, at least on the ultra.


    If your battery life comfortably lasts all day and you just charge overnight then fast charging is kind of a feature that isn't a feature.
    Reply
  • Pauljd
    AC News said:
    Samsung hasn't revisited the charging speed of the Galaxy S series in a hot minute. How have they gotten away with it for so long?

    Samsung should've used Galaxy AI to figure out how to upgrade S24 charging speeds : Read more
    Outraged? Why would anybody be outraged?

    The battery lasts all day and then some, and you charge overnight. It isn't rocket science.
    Reply
  • swebb
    Agreed, but perhaps they should have considered something "smarter" with AI. Say rapid charge to 50% then slow it down after. That should be enough for those that need a top off to get through the day. Fast charging to capacity is not good for battery health. To me, fast charging is just a marketing gimmick that means nothing to most people.

    I really like that Samsung has an option to limit charging to 85% on their phones and laptops. Should greatly increase battery longevity. Wish Google would pick this up as part of their "adaptive charging".
    Reply
  • fuzzylumpkin
    swebb said:
    Agreed, but perhaps they should have considered something "smarter" with AI. Say rapid charge to 50% then slow it down after. That should be enough for those that need a top off to get through the day. Fast charging to capacity is not good for battery health. To me, fast charging is just a marketing gimmick that means nothing to most people.

    I really like that Samsung has an option to limit charging to 85% on their phones and laptops. Should greatly increase battery longevity. Wish Google would pick this up as part of their "adaptive charging".
    That's literally how fast charging already works.
    Reply
  • Stanley Kubrick
    The constant complaints about so many stupid things is really getting OLD! They're damned if they do and damned if they don't!
    Let's complain when there's no wireless charging...so they give us wireless charging but that's not good enough...now we need to be able to charge from ZERO to 100% in ten minutes...even though wireless charging causes heat and is so much slower than wired charging. How fast does it need to be? You can always get a OnePlus phone that charges super fast. It has two batteries which makes this possible. It's just a silly redundant argument.
    Reply
  • bradavon
    They should definitely be doing better in this area, but it's also kind of a non-issue, at least on the ultra.
    fuzzylumpkin said:

    If your battery life comfortably lasts all day and you just charge overnight then fast charging is kind of a feature that isn't a feature.
    That's not how life works though. There'll always be times you need to charge at random times.

    Besides no all day battery phone ever stays that way.

    Stanley Kubrick said:
    The constant complaints about so many stupid things is really getting OLD! They're damned if they do and damned if they don't!
    Let's complain when there's no wireless charging...so they give us wireless charging but that's not good enough...now we need to be able to charge from ZERO to 100% in ten minutes...even though wireless charging causes heat and is so much slower than wired charging. How fast does it need to be?
    No one is asking for a phone to charge from flat in 10 minutes, literally no one.

    The heat argument has been debunked. They don't just increase the charging speed, they also add tech so it's safe.

    Stanley Kubrick said:
    You can always get a OnePlus phone that charges super fast. It has two batteries which makes this possible. It's just a silly redundant argument.
    Why should people have to buy a OnePlus? Odd.
    Reply
  • bradavon
    Absolutely Samsung need to increase charging times. It's way more useful in daily life than constant tinkering with the camera.

    But they also need to increase the batttery too. Taking out the super niche s pen would help if space was an issue.
    Reply
  • bradavon
    This is a strange article though when Apple and Google charge their flagship phones even slower.

    Pixels take 2 hours from flat. It's literally the reason why I couldn't buy a Pixel. I don't need 30 miunutes but 2 hours would consantly cause me issues. There'll always be times you need to charge at random times.
    Reply
  • Stanley Kubrick
    bradavon said:
    They should definitely be doing better in this area, but it's also kind of a non-issue, at least on the ultra.

    That's not how life works though. There'll always be times you need to charge at random times.

    Besides no all day battery phone ever stays that way.


    No one is asking for a phone to charge from flat in 10 minutes, literally no one.

    The heat argument has been debunked. They don't just increase the charging speed, they also add tech so it's safe.


    Why should people have to buy a OnePlus? Odd.
    10 minutes = being facetious....OnePlus has super fast charging. Easy to follow actually! Hmmmmm
    Reply
  • fuzzylumpkin
    bradavon said:
    They should definitely be doing better in this area, but it's also kind of a non-issue, at least on the ultra.

    That's not how life works though. There'll always be times you need to charge at random times.

    Besides no all day battery phone ever stays that way.


    No one is asking for a phone to charge from flat in 10 minutes, literally no one.

    The heat argument has been debunked. They don't just increase the charging speed, they also add tech so it's safe.


    Why should people have to buy a OnePlus? Odd.
    Kinda is how life works though. If I know I'm going to be heavy on it in a day, I just charge to 100 instead of 85 (Yeah, I comfortably make it through a day as a pretty heavy user while only charging to 85 on the S23 Ultra). If I don't know it's going to be a super heavy day and it just happens... I'm not going to be carrying my super fast charger and cable with me anyway, so it's moot. I carry a small battery pack in my jacket and I haven't used it once since buying the S23U, maybe I just have really good battery conservation skills...

    I did say I thought Samsung should improve this in my first comment, I just also think the author is blowing it way out of proportion. Probably because, for good and bad, there isn't really much to talk about with the S24 series.

    Replying to multiple people in one comment made it super awkward to respond..
    Reply