The new 45W charging on the Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra and Galaxy S22 Plus isn't looking like much of an upgrade, despite being a $50 option.
In our testing, the 45W charger juiced our Galaxy S22 Ultra to 36% in 15 minutes and 67% in 30 minutes. That's faster than a 25W charger with the same phone which hit 29% in 15 minutes and 58% in 30 minutes, but it's not a dramatic difference.
And we're not alone in our findings. Phonearea has carried out some testing and found that the Galaxy S22 Ultra’s 5,000mAh battery takes 62 minutes to fully charge on the new 45W charger, whereas the 25W charger will juice up the battery in 70 minutes. A saving of eight minutes doesn't seem to be that great when the wattage of the charger is almost doubled.
Android Authority has this somewhat disappointing result down to the 45W charger only sustaining its peak output for one minute. In general, the sustained output of the 45W charger tends to be on the 30W mark. So for an extra $50 it looks like you're not really getting everything you've paid for.
We’ve contacted Samsung for some clarity on why this is the case, but have yet to hear back from the company.
However, not charging a battery at peak wattage can help maintain the lifespan of a Lithium-ion cell. So modulating the output of a charger may not be the worst thing in the world.
But this has us thinking that the 45W charger may not be worth it unless a saving of less than 10 minutes per full charge is something you desperately need. If that’s the case, you may be better off with the Oppo Find X5 Pro with its 120W charging or the OnePlus 9 Pro that has 65W charging; both include a charger in the box and fill up their batteries very quickly.
Given the Galaxy S22 range does not include a charger in the box, we suggest for the time being at least you stick with previous 25W USB-PD standard chargers you might already have.
