Picking the best charger for your smartphone and other gadgets has always been a bit of a chore, and the growing trend in handsets shipping without a boxed adapter has only made the process more arduous. The plethora of charging standards, power varieties, cables, and brand-specific terminology certainly doesn’t help narrow down your needs at a glance.
Charging your phone is simple enough — just plug in the USB-C cable to any old plug or port and you’re off. But is the device really fast charging or powering up as optimally as possible? Unfortunately, there’s no guaranteed way to know. Smartphones often give you a generic indicator like “fast charging” or “rapid charging”. If you’re lucky, brands like Samsung display a “Super fast charging” toast when using the best charger for the job, but that’s the exception, not the rule. Google’s Pixel 6, for instance, just displays “Charging rapidly” whether you’re plugged into a 9W or 30W charger. Hardly helpful.
