In the race for fast charging speeds in phones, we have reached a point where we can fully charge them in just 10 minutes thanks to insane speeds of up to 240w. A quick look at the fastest charging speeds available per brand shows that the median is roughly at around 100w. While other brands offer lower speeds (Samsung, for one, does not have a device that goes beyond 45w), one common denominator we noticed when testing charging bricks that offer 67w or higher is that they support USB-PD wired charging at up to 65w.

Based on our experience of testing multiple devices (beyond phones), we do think that 65w wired charging is ideal, and that tech brands should adopt it as a universal standard–instead of pushing for faster speeds.

Most devices are fine with 65w charging.

Even if brands would make 120w (or even 240w) charging mainstream like what Xiaomi is doing, we don’t really see other devices needing 120w charging. In fact, the ROG Phone 6 settles for 65w charging, which is fine for topping up its 6000mAh battery in roughly an hour.

Beyond smartphones, a number of gadgets make good use of 65w USB-C charging anyways. These include a number of ultrabooks in the market (including Apple’s regular M1 and M2 MacBook Air and Pro models), gaming consoles like the Nintendo Switch, and even mirrorless cameras.

Heck, even laptops that need more power (ie some ultrabooks that have dedicated GPUs) can still be charged with 65w–albeit at a slower rate. In a nutshell, the normal consumer can do fine with “just” 65w charging to top up all of their gadgets.

 

It balances speed and efficiency.

While it’s nice to have a gadget that gets a full charge in less than 20 minutes, there are drawbacks to this. Aside from having a smaller battery (those that offer more than 120w charging have batteries that are smaller than 5000mAh), very fast chargers generate heat to BOTH the phone and charger, reducing charging efficiency and reducing battery life.

Even if brands are finding ways to make fast charging sustainable by using better batteries or improving how charging is done, a 65w solution offers a good balance between reasonably fast charging speeds and power efficiency. Based on our experience, a 65w charger can top up your average smartphone in less than an hour without making the device warm–the latter being very important as heat is the main enemy of a battery’s life span.

 

It’s very accessible to everyone.

One of the challenges with the new fast-charging solutions that brands offer is the availability of the required cables and chargers. OPPO’s 240w SuperVOOC solution makes use of a thick 12A USB-C cable, while Xiaomi’s 120w solution uses a slightly thinner 6A USB-C cable. Both cables don’t have wide availability from third-party brands.

On the other hand, 65w chargers are relatively common, with a variety of good third-party options on eCommerce sites and physical stores. A simple “65w charger” search in Lazada and Shopee will give you a variety of reputable charger brands to choose from. As for the cable, all you need is a 100w USB-C cable, which again is easy to find on eCommerce sites and physical stores–with many reputable brands to choose from.

 

Brands should implement AT LEAST 65w in their devices (on top of advertised fast charging speeds)

While we appreciate that the latest fast-charging solutions from OPPO, Infinix, and Xiaomi do support 65w USB-PD with their charging bricks, we hope they do the same for their phones as well. From the current crop of phones (that have fast charging support) we have reviewed, the majority of them cap off charging speeds to 10w or 18w when using a charger that’s not included in the box or with a third-party USB-PD charger.

Given their claims of blazing fast charging speeds, phone brands could make fast charging more accessible to consumers if they include support for 65w charging so that consumers can still enjoy fast top-ups even if they don’t have access to the required charging cable and brick.

Charging a battery to full in minutes is a cool feature to have. However, with the current battery technology, 65w wired charging is proven to be the sweet spot and the most universally accepted speed across all the tech products we own.