What Samsung and Apple don’t understand about Fast Charging

Fast charging is very important for me and for very many other people whose devices support it. Proper fast charging, I mean. A couple of devices I am currently using support 65W and 120W fast charging. These include the Infinix NOTE 12 VIP, the OPPO Reno6 5G, the Xiaomi Pad 5, and the Xiaomi 11T Pro. I love using these devices. Many other devices I have been using also support 33W and 45W fast charging.

Over the years, it has so happened that fast charging has been pioneered by Chinese brands like OPPO and Xiaomi. The bigger players – Apple (US) and Samsung (Korea) – on their part haven’t been seen to be taking fast charging seriously. Instead, they’ve even removed chargers from their boxes claiming it to be a means to reduce their carbon footprint and save the planet from climate change.

The argument given against fast charging has been that your battery degrades faster. However, this has been proven to not be true by both users and testers. My OPPO Reno6 5G still offers close to the same amount of battery life I was getting when it was brand new. And it still charges just as fast as it did when new with its 65W charger. The same is the case with the OPPO Reno5.

When I picked up the Xiaomi 11T Pro with its 120W fast charger, a concern I received was that it would degrade really fast in battery life. Being able to charge a phone from 0-100% in less than 20mins just feels insane! I love it!

However, close to a year of using it – and actually remembering to drain it and recharge my phone as often as I can – I cannot point out any significant degradation. I actually love the 120W charger included in the box. It has become the only charger I use. It fast charges my M1 MacBook Pro and my M1 iPad Pro very well. I use it for my earbuds, and powerbanks, and most of the other phones I may be reviewing.

So, not only is that charger good for quickly adding juice to my Xiaomi 11T Pro, it’s also good for all these other devices. And I didn’t have to pay any more money as it came included in the box.

Samsung and Apple have of late been beefing up how fast their devices can charge. My iPhone 13 Pro Max (which still has a lightning port) now charges at over 25W if you have the right charging brick and cable. The Galaxy S22 Ultra on the other hand fast charges up to 45W. But you have to buy their charger separately.

Not only are these companies offering charging speeds that are slower compared to competition, they’re also asking you for more money in order to get the charger itself. That’s just not right!

Their argument about degradation of the battery has been proven wrong as highlighted in this article. Their argument removing the charger for less carbon footprint has been shown to be wrong again and again.

I am glad that the EU will be requiring a standard charging port going forward. That will force Apple to shift from lightning. That should also force them to adopt faster charging standards over a common charging port.

There should also be a significant review of how companies calculate their carbon footprint to avoid the charade around removal of chargers. Instead focus should be on making repairs easy, and forcing companies to better handle recycling of all units sold.