Galaxy S23 takes longer to charge wirelessly even with first-party chargers

Most smartphone brands are consistently increasing wireless charging speed on their smartphones. Some phones like the OnePlus 10 Pro, Oppo X6 Pro, Vivo X90 Pro+, and Xiaomi 13 Pro offer jaw-dropping wireless charging wattage of 50W, completing a full charge in around 30 minutes. iPhones charge significantly slower, but Apple has at least improved over the years (from 7.5W on the iPhone 8 Plus to 15W on the iPhone 14 Pro).

Samsung, however, is going in the opposite direction. Did you know that Samsung dropped the wireless charging speed from 15W on the Galaxy S22 to 10W on the Galaxy S23 for third-party wireless chargers?

Samsung has dropped the wireless charging speed on Galaxy S23

All three Galaxy S23 series smartphones are rated for 15W for wireless charging. However, the phones can charge at this wattage only if you use Samsung's own wireless charger. If you use a third-party wireless charger, the charging wattage will drop to 10W. That wasn’t the case with the Galaxy S22.

Let’s give Samsung here the benefit of the doubt. So, its phones should take a similar time to charge wirelessly using the company's own charger, right? After all, both devices have the same battery capacity (5,000mAh) and the same wireless charging speed (15W). Well, that isn’t the case.

Is Samsung capping wireless charging speed on Galaxy S23 Ultra below 15W?

PhoneArena has tested the wireless charging speeds of the Galaxy S22 and the Galaxy S23, and the results are quite shocking. The Galaxy S23 Ultra, which has the same battery capacity and charging speed as the Galaxy S22 Ultra, takes 40 minutes more to charge from 0-100% than its predecessor. Both phones were charged using Samsung’s 15W wireless charger (EP-P2400), which means that it was charging at the highest possible speed, and yet, it took more time to charge than the Galaxy S22 Ultra at 15W.

Going by these results, it looks like Samsung has capped the wireless charging speed of the Galaxy S23 series smartphones below 15 watts even when charged with Samsung’s own 15 watts wireless charger. The company might have taken this decision to reduce the heat that’s generated while charging wirelessly (maybe to increase the battery health). But even so, dropping the wireless charging below 15 watts is quite disappointing, especially when these devices have a beefier cooling system, as demonstrated by Samsung.

Owning to slower charging speed, the Galaxy S23 Ultra now takes more time to charge wirelessly than the iPhone 14 Pro Max, which means that Samsung’s flagship probably charges the slowest among all the latest flagship smartphones in the world.