When you need a new charger, make sure you check the watts and standard – and don’t end up with a fake. Daniel Boothexplains everything you need to know
Most of us will stick with the charger that comes with our phone, tablet or laptop. But if it stops working or you lose it, you’ll need a replacement. Because many charging cables tend to look the same, it’s tempting to think you can plug any charger into any device. But there are important differences to consider, and getting it wrong could wreck your device or even destroy your home.
Phones and tablets
First, check your phone’s manual to see how much power it needs in watts (W). Most modern phones require between 5W and 20W. For example, our favourite Android phone – Google’s Pixel 7a – needs 18W, while our favourite iPhone (13) needs 20W (see page 30 for both).
Some recent phones, particularly ‘super-fast-charging’ devices from Chinese manufacturers, require a much higher wattage. The current record holder is Realme’s GT3, which supports 240W and can charge fully in under 10 minutes. If you can’t see an entry for watts in the list of specifications, look for output in volts and amps. Multiply those two numbers together to get the wattage.
There’s no harm in using a charger that has a higher wattage than your device needs. Modern devices are designed to draw only the amount of power they require. Avoid using a charger with a lower wattage, however, because your device might have to draw power from its battery rather than the charger itself. It may also overheat the device.
Tablets have larger screens and more features than phones, which means they have larger batteries and need more watts to charge. Our favourite Android tablet, the Samsung Galaxy Tab S9 (see page 30), comes with a 45W charger, although the latest standard-sized iPads require only 20W.
Checking that your charger uses the correct standard is harder. The most common (and best) standard is USB Power Delivery (USB PD). USB PD 3.0 cables can carry 100W, while USB PD 3.1, released in 2021, can hit 240W. Qualcomm’s Quick Charge 4 (released in 2017) and 5 (2020) are compatible with USB PD.
But before you can tell which version of USB PD or Quick Charge to use, you need to find out if your device supports Programmable Power Supply (PPS) fast charging. This is an optional part of USB PD that can charge devices faster by altering the voltage and current in real time to give your device exactly the right amount of power it ne
