How to Pick the Right Charger for Your Smartphone

Choosing the right charger for your phone doesn’t have to be hard. That said, we’ll walk you through what you should look for in a charger in this post.

We’ll discuss the following things and why they’re crucial to helping you pick the best phone charger:

• Charging port 

• Power output

• Fast charging protocols

• Charging for multiple devices 

• Brand

Simply put, this is the ultimate phone charger buying guide. Let’s dive right into it.

Factors to Consider When Buying a Phone Charger

What follows is a rundown of what you should keep in mind when choosing a phone charger. 

1. Charging Port 

Buy a charger whose port corresponds with your phone’s port. And, that shouldn’t be a problem.

The latest Android phones have USB-C ports, while older models have a micro USB port. Apple phones, on the other hand, feature the Lightning port. You can also charge Apple devices using adapters like the USB-C to Lightning adapter/cable.

Regarding charging ports, it all boils down to the type of cable the port can support.

Put differently, a charger with multiple ports supporting different types of cables always allows you to charge different devices.

2. Smartphone Output (W)

To understand power output, we need to look at two things first:

Voltage (V)

The best charger should offer a voltage that matches your smartphone’s. 

While 5V has been the standard for a long time, there are new technologies like Qualcomm that can deliver 9 to 12V. Most chargers that support 9/12V can automatically detect a non-Qualcomm smartphone and adjust to 5V. Essentially, this means that you can use a 9/12V charger with older smartphones rated at 5V.

Amperage (A)

The more amperage a charger has, the faster it charges your device. Even so, some smartphones cap the amount of current the device can allow even using a high amperage charger. When looking for a phone charger, make sure it has a voltage rating of at least 2A. 

With that out of the way, let’s now talk about power output (W). 

For starters, to get the power output, you’ll need to multiply the voltage by amperage. In essence, this implies that the more voltage and amperage a charger has, the higher is its power output. 

For instance, a charger rated at 5V/2A can deliver a 10W total power output while 9V/2A rating translates to an 18W total output. And given that the latest smartphones often support an output of 18W to 65W, you should go for a charger that matches the same.

Quick Charging 

Of course, you’re better off with a charger that supports fast charging. Still, you need to make sure that your smartphone can handle fast charging as well. So, before in invest in a fast charger, make sure:

1. Your smartphone is compatible with fast chargers.

2. You know your phone’s fast charging protocol.

3. Your cable can support fast charging.

Let’s expound on the second point:

3. Fast Charging Protocols

As the name suggests, fast charging protocol is a technology that facilitates fast charging.

Most smartphones use either Power Delivery or Quick Charger protocols. There are other brand-specific protocols, though. A brand like OnePlus, for instance, uses Warp Charge.

When choosing a phone charger, make sure it offers the same fast charging protocol as your smartphone. 

Samsung devices support two fast-charging protocols; Adaptive Fast Charging, a modified version of Quick Charge, and Super-Fast Charging, a modified version of Power Delivery. Still, a charger that offers standard Quick Charge and Power Delivery protocols will work just fine with Samsung smartphones.

If you own an iPhone 8 and above, pick a charger that offers Power Delivery because these phones support extra fast charging. These devices can handle up to 18W output, capable of charging your battery to 50% after 30 minutes.

4. Charging for Multiple Devices 

The best charge should offer multiple outputs. That way, you can charge several devices at the same time. Even so, you make sure such a charger supports high power to achieve simultaneous fast charging. 

Speaking of which, here’s an excellent Gan Faster Charger with 3 USB-C and 1 USB-A charging port to support multiple device charging. It offers a remarkable 100W power output.

5. Brand

Brand matters when looking for a new phone charger. Ideally, you want a charger made by a reputable 3rd party charger manufacturer.

Why is this important? Creditable brands manufacture high-quality chargers that have undergone rigorous testing for performance and reliability. On top of that, reputable brands make chargers that comply with international certifications like CE, RoHS, etc.

While these chargers are available at a premium price, they’re the original smartphone chargers. Also, make sure that you read a brand’s reviews by customers. You’ll want to buy from a brand with positive reviews and high ratings from happy users. 

The Bottom Line 

When you know what to look for in a charger, picking one that meets your requirement becomes pretty straightforward. Irrespective of your budget and smartphone’s charging specifications, sticking to the points outlined here will ensure that you get value for your money. Remember, a cheap charger can damage your phone’s battery, costing you more in the long run.

Welcome back to another episode of Ask Us Anything, where we gather your questions from the internet and answer them.

In today’s episode, we’ll find out how to check if a third-party charger is compatible with your smartphone, if non-gaming apps support bypass charging, and if the ROG Ally supports display output via USB-C.

How to check if a third-party charger is compatible with your smartphone?

The easiest, simplest, and most straightforward solution is to purchase the first-party charger that came with your smartphone from the smartphone manufacturer.

This is because most smartphone manufacturers use proprietary charging standards like Oppo’s SuperVOOC, Honor’s SuperCharge, and Realme’s SuperDart Flash Charge to name a few. Samsung and Google meanwhile use the USB-Power Delivery or PD charging technology based on the USB-C standard.

You can still use third-party chargers with smartphones with propriety charging standards. It’s just that you may not be able to charge the smartphone at its highest-rated charging speed. Most third-party chargers on the market today use the USB PD charging standard and many modern smartphones, even those that use proprietary charging standards, support USB PD charging.

For example, the Oppo Find X5 Pro supports 80W SuperVOOC charging but can still fast charge when connected to a USB PD charger. My 5-year-old Samsung Galaxy Note 9 also supports USB PD up to 18W, but it’s the older 2.0 version. However, you don’t have to worry too much about this as the newer USB PD 3.1 version is backwards compatible with older versions.

But generally, if there’s a mismatch of fast charging protocol between the phone and charger, the charging speed will default to 10W. For context, the 4,000mAh battery of my Note 9 takes around 2 hours for a full charge at 10W.  

So, a rule of thumb when searching for a third-party charger for your smartphone is to match the power output of that charger to the power output of the first-party charger. For example, my Galaxy Note 9 needs a power input of 5V and 3A, which equals 18W, to support USB PD charging or 9V and 1.67A, which equals 15W, for Samsung’s Adaptive Fast Charging. However, it won’t fast charge if the input is 9V and 2A even though this also produces 18W.

If you’re still unsure if the charger will work with your smartphone, then you can always try out chargers used by your family members and friends and buy the one that works with your smartphone.

Can non-gaming apps support bypass charging?

In order to use bypass charging on the Nubia Neo 5G, you have to be running an app, and it doesn’t necessarily need to be a gaming app. But unlike the other phones that I’ve tested with bypass charging like the ROG Phone 6, BlackShark 5, and Galaxy S23 Ultra, bypass charging on the Nubia Neo 5G continues working, even after you exit the app. With the other phones that I mentioned, bypass charging will be turned off until you return to the app.

However, bypass charging works through the phone’s gaming software or game centre. So, using this Nubia Neo 5G as an example, you will need to enter Game Space and add the apps that you want to use with the gaming features. Once added, launch the app, and you will be able to access the gaming tools. In the case of this Nubia Neo 5G, that would be a swipe from the top left or right side of the screen.

Look for the bypass charging toggle and turn it on. Once you’ve toggled it on, you can then exit the app and bypass charging will continue to run with an accompanying notification. To charge the battery, just click on the notification to turn off bypass charging. 

Do note that the Nubia Neo 5G, as well as the other phones that I mentioned, won’t let you toggle bypass charging until you’ve plugged in the phone’s charger or a PD charger. That said, I’ve been told that the Infinix GT 10 lets you toggle bypass charging without a charger plugged in and activates the feature when you plug the phone into a power outlet.

Do note that not all apps will be detected by the phone’s gaming software, and it varies from phone to phone. For example, Google Chrome cannot be added to the gaming software of the Nubia Neo 5G but can be added to the ROG Phone 5’s gaming software, Armoury Crate.

Does the ROG Ally support display output via USB-C?

You can indeed connect the ROG Ally to a supported external monitor using a USB-C cable as the port is a USB-C 3.2 Gen 2 with DisplayPort 1.4 support. But there are some things you need to consider.

For one, there’s only one USB-C port on the ROG Ally and it is also the charging port. So, if you’re planning on using the ROG Ally for long periods of time to game with your external monitor or, get the best performance out of it, then you will need to connect it to power as well.

If the USB-C port on your monitor also supports Power Delivery or PD of at least 30W, then you should be good to go. But if it doesn’t support PD charging or doesn’t have a USB-C display input, then you will need to get a USB-C dock. 

However, not all USB-C docks are built equally. Most USB-C docks with an HDMI port on the market are capped at 4K at 30fps or 1440p at 60fps. To output 4K at 60fps, you will need to make sure that it is explicitly written under the specifications for that USB-C dock that it supports 4K at 60fps.

Then, you will need to check if the USB-C dock supports at least 30W PD passthrough which means you connect a PD charger to the dock, and it passes the power through to the ROG Ally.