Hey, Samsung owners, I know you’re confused AF about which GAN charger to buy for your shiny new Galaxy S24 Ultra or Galaxy S23 Ultra flagship phone. Luckily, I’ve also been in pursuit of the same goal of fast charging my Galaxy, and here’s what I learned.
I miss included chargers
Remember when you paid for a phone and received the best charger in the box? Those days are unfortunately long gone to “save the environment,” but that also means that most consumers who don’t have a modern charger are left alone wandering through a forest of hundreds of confusing charger choices.
Be confused
Frankly, I’d be surprised if you weren’t confused by how to get your Samsung phone to actually use the faster “Super-Fast Charging 2.0” mode since the conditions to get there aren’t very straightforward at all.
I could only find mentions of it in two sentences on Samsung’s website, where it says: “For super-fast charging, you must have a charging cable that supports adaptive fast charging with a capacity of 45W – 45W TA + 5A cable (E-marked),” and: “You will also need a 45W Travel Adapter. Super-fast charging will not function with a standard charger. We recommend using the USB Type-C, 5A charging cable that comes with the 45W charger.”
If you’re shopping for a third-party charger and cable, Samsung’s guidance won’t be of much use either. Even worse, Samsung’s description doesn’t mention the different versions of Super Fast Charging, which contributes to the confusion. I’ve found chargers on Amazon that mention 45 watts and Samsung Super Fast Charging, but a closer look at the specs reveals they will max out at 28 watts, not Super-Fast Charing 2.0’s 45 watts.
So yes, it’s confusing AF.
The vast majority of USB-C chargers are unlikely to charge your Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra or S23 Ultra at the maximum charge rate.
The vast majority of USB-C chargers are unlikely to charge your Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra or S23 Ultra at the maximum charge rate.
Gordon Mah Ung
The vast majority of USB-C chargers are unlikely to charge your Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra or S23 Ultra at the maximum charge rate.
Gordon Mah Ung
<div class="scrim" style="background-color: #fff" aria-hidden="true"></div>
</div></figure><p class="imageCredit">Gordon Mah Ung</p></div>Most USB-C chargers won’t be fast either
You could buy the OEM Samsung 45-watt Travel Adapter and call it day, but few people will want to shell out $50 for the company charger which is kind of clunky and ugly next to today’s svelte GAN chargers. I also recommend that if you decide to go the factory-charger route, be wary of counterfeits, which often target the confused Samsung Travel Adapter charger buyers.
I imagine that most unassuming consumers won’t buy the Samsung charger since more powerful 65-watt or 100-watt chargers are so cheap and must be just as fast, right? Unfortunately, no. In fact, among the dozens of USB-C chargers I have, none of them will charge the top Samsung phones at their fastest rates. None. Not the 100-watt units, not the 65-watt units, not the 45-watt units.
Just buying a “45-watt” GAN charger may not charge your Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra phone at its maximum. You can see my Elecom 45-watt charger not exceeding
26-watts (blue line) even when the phone was near empty.Just buying a “45-watt” GAN charger may not charge your Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra phone at its maximum. You can see my Elecom 45-watt charger not exceeding
26-watts (blue line) even when the phone was near empty.Gordon Mah Ung
<div class="lightbox-image-container foundry-lightbox"><div class="extendedBlock-wrapper block-coreImage undefined"><figure class="wp-block-image size-large enlarged-image"><img decoding="async" data-wp-bind--src="selectors.core.image.enlargedImgSrc" data-wp-style--object-fit="selectors.core.image.lightboxObjectFit" src="" alt="Even an advanced GAN charger that meets the wattage may not charge your phone at its maximum rate" class="wp-image-2286952" width="1200" height="675" loading="lazy" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption"><p>Just buying a “45-watt” GAN charger may not charge your Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra phone at its maximum. <span style="color: var(--figcaption--font-color);font-family: var(--figcaption--font-family);font-size: 0.75rem"> You can see my Elecom 45-watt charger not exceeding </span></p> 26-watts (blue line) even when the phone was near empty.</figcaption></figure><p class="imageCredit">Gordon Mah Ung</p></div> </div></figure><p class="imageCredit">Gordon Mah Ung</p></div>Even an advanced USB-C charger may not be super fast
Last summer, I purchased a 45-watt GAN charger in search of lighting up the magical “Super-Fast Charging 2.0” message on my Galaxy S23 Ultra. That charger, an Elecom CW-102 supported the optional Programmable Power Supply portion of USB-Power Delivery, which I had assumed would be enough to reach 45 watts. Unfortunately, it turns out it really wasn’t enough and the maximum charge rate even with PPS support was just under 28 watts. At least that’s what it’s limited to now. I swear that last summer plugging in the Elecom charger would trigger the “Super-Fast Charging 2.0” indicator but it no longer does. So either I imagined it, or recent updates to the phones have disabled the indicator on the Elecom charger. And since I didn’t do the full testing last summer I have no proof it worked other than my memory of seeing “Super Fast Charging 2.0” on the screen.
You need 4- to 5-amp PPS support
Although my Elecom CW-102 supports PPS, it turns out that its PPS profile of 3.3 volts to 21 volts at 2.25 amps isn’t supported by Samsung’s Super Fast Charging 2.0. You can see proof of that in the graph below, which recorded the Elecom charging the phone along with a 5-amp cable maxing out at about 26 watts.
PPS is an advanced option for USB-C Power Delivery chargers that translates into faster, cooler and more efficient charging on phones that support it.
That’s what brought me to Anker’s 313 Ace 45 watt charger. It’s a GAN charger, so it’s very compact and has folding prongs. More importantly, it has a PPS profile of 3.3 volts to 11 volts at 5 amps, which is the magic sauce that Samsung flagship phones require for max charge rates. Looking at Samsung’s OEM 45-watt Travel Adapter charger, it features a PPS profile of 3.3 volts to 11 volts at 4.05 amps, which is just a little less than the lower-priced and more compact Anker 313.
As you can see in the chart below in blue, the Anker 313 will charge the Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra at roughly 42 watts, or about a 61 percent increase over the Elecom that’s limited to 3 amps.
The blue in
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