Which of these is the best phone charger?

FrankFalcon

Hi all

Recently, I have been baffled why some phone chargers are more expensive than others and some have different labels such as ‘fast charge’, ‘rapid charge’ etc. so much so, that I want to educate myself in basic electronics. What better way to start than ask you guys to tell me about these chargers. These are just some random chargers I have bought/accumulated. Can somebody tell me which is best of these, but more importantly why. Also, why are similar looking chargers sometimes much more expensive than others. 

Thanks all. 

TadleyBaggie

The top two can provide faster charging, as they support higher voltages/current. However that will only occur if the phone actually supports faster charging.

RumRat

They are both the same, just manufactured in different countries for Samsung, Vietnam/India. Official branded chargers are going to be more expensive wherever they are from.

DullGreyGuy

FrankFalcon said:

Hi all

Recently, I have been baffled why some phone chargers are more expensive than others and some have different labels such as ‘fast charge’, ‘rapid charge’ etc. so much so, that I want to educate myself in basic electronics. What better way to start than ask you guys to tell me about these chargers. These are just some random chargers I have bought/accumulated. Can somebody tell me which is best of these, but more importantly why. Also, why are similar looking chargers sometimes much more expensive than others. 

Thanks all. 

The wattage (voltage x amperage) is the simply way to work out how quickly its going to charge something, the bottom two are old as they are only 5w, the top two are both higher with the one on the right as the highest at 20w. Most chargers these days are at least 20w and a fair few are 30w or above.

Whilst brand and capabilities are certainly a consideration in pricing it's not only that. Long time ago there was a programme about chargers causing fires and they did a tear down of a genuine apple charger and a fake. The expert said they were surprised how much electronics were in the genuine one with a few safety features built in. The face one was virtually empty and poorly assembled with the "expert" then demonstrating how it was a notable fire risk. 

Fakes however are a slightly different thing to legitimate budget items and as long as you are buying a genuine charger from a known brand it's probably fine. That said my Anker charger gets very warm to the touch whereas the almost identically sized and powered Apple one barely gets above room temp when used in the same way. 

Vitor

More expensive chargers should support Power Delivery (PD) over USB-C which can negotiate a voltage/amperage with the mobi etc. That's how 'super fast' charging using 20V/5A is achieved, assuming the device and USB-C cable can both support.

Basic 5V/1A USB chargers will take many hours to achieve what PD can do in minutes.

TBH all those pictured by the OP should be heading for electrical recycling. 

Doshwaster

RumRat said:

They are both the same, just manufactured in different countries for Samsung, Vietnam/India. Official branded chargers are going to be more expensive wherever they are from.

Also depends on the USB cable too. Cheaper ones may not be able to support faster charging.

jshm2

Neither, they are just "getting by" chargers.

You need to get yourself a proper Gan2 or Gan 3 charger. You get Gan 4 and 5 ones - but unless you're gaming, producing or mining on the phone,  you're not going to get much use out of it. 

They usually come with the right cable to charge with as well. 

matelodave

The two at the bottom will take twice as long to charge as the two at the top

the bottom two are 5v at 1amp = 5watts
the top two are 5v at 2amps = 10 watts. - see note below

A bog standard phone with say a 4000m/h battery requires approx 20 watt.hours to charge it therefore the bottom two would take approx four hours to charge whereas the top two would only take around two.

Some phones and tablets are limited in their capacity to fast charge whereas most modern phones/tablets with USB-C connectors can now accept a faster charge although for that you need a faster charger, a compatible phone and a decent charger cable.

The Samsung chargers are capable of pushing out around 15watts to the appropriate Samsung device which has the capability to accept 9v from the charger - generally a Samsung proprietary feature. 

Chargers and devices with Power Delivery functionality allow the device to "negotiate" with the charger to maximise the available output, which as @Vitor suggests could be as high as 20v at 5amps = 100w with the appropriate device, charger and charging cable

Newcad

As you may have guessed the answer is old kit will still work - but new devices will charge faster with new chargers.

Newer chargers will 'know' how much power your device needs and will supply that power.

One thing to note is that if you have a charger with both USB-A and USB-C ports then you may have to use the USB-A for older or cheaper devices that the PD (Power Delivery) can't 'talk' to.

Frozen_up_north

Beware of “fast charging”, the recommended way to keep your battery in good condition is not to charge above 80%, not to fast charge, and not to let the charge drop below 20%.

Clearly the industry loves users that have a poor capacity battery after 2 years, who then say they are “due an upgrade”… another thousand pounds down the drain…

prowla

Frozen_up_north said:

Beware of “fast charging”, the recommended way to keep your battery in good condition is not to charge above 80%, not to fast charge, and not to let the charge drop below 20%.

Clearly the industry loves users that have a poor capacity battery after 2 years, who then say they are “due an upgrade”… another thousand pounds down the drain…

I sometimes wonder why phones don't have a setting to stop at 95%, or even calibrate so that 110% is the real maximum but you can only charge to 100%.
I think my Samsung stopped at 97% the other day.