Samsung Galaxy S23 is a premium flagship smartphone that was released in February 2023. It has everything you would expect a smartphone of its class to have. Everything except a charging brick. Yes, the Galaxy S23 does not come with a charger in the box. Bummer.
Why though? Why does Samsung A14 not come with a charger in the box? Samsung says it is on a quest to minimize e-waste, so they do not include one any more. The reasoning is that many phone users already have a charger. Why pile them up? That is a fair point.
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How many chargers do you have now?
If the phone you are using now is not your first, chances are that you already have one charger lying around. I am on my two hundred and something phone, so as you can imagine, I have owned a fair bit of chargers. Currently, I have four chargers here at home, and I would have more if my young adults hadn’t appropriated some of them. The chargers I have are from my Xiaomi Mi Note 10 Pro (QC 3 and PD3), Unihertz Slim (18W), AGM G2 Guardian (18W), and iPhone SE 2022 (20W). So what do I need another charger for; right?
The answer to that question will depend on the kind of chargers I have and the kind that the Galaxy S23 needs. For example, the S23 supports Samsung’s own proprietary charging system that delivers 25W fast charging, as well as Power Delivery 3.0. I don’t have a Samsung fast charger, so that’s goodbye to the proprietary option. But my Xiaomi charger supports Power Delivery 3.0 with a maximum charge of 30W, which is (thankfully) higher than what Samsung’s in-house system does on the S23. Power Delivery 3.0 can charge a smartphone up to 50% in 30 minutes.
Xiaomi fast charger to the rescue
That sounded good enough for me. I plugged the Samsung S23 review unit using my Xiaomi Mi Note 10 Pro’s PD-compliant charger that tops at 30W fast charging. It is the fastest charger I have at this time. How did this odd pairing go? The animation indicating fast charging came up on the screen immediately. The charging exercise kicked off at 51% and the phone hit 100% 51 minutes after I plugged the phone in.
That is not bad at all, considering that the 25W Samsung charger would have topped up the phone from zero to 100% in roughly 70 minutes. A rough estimate tells me this Mi charger charges a little slower than the Samsung 25W charger. I can live with that. Sorry Samsung, I won’t be buying that adapter of yours.
Of course, we all suspect that one of the reasons that Samsung does not include a charger in the box is that they want you to buy theirs. Just like Apple. Extra income for them. But we can’t prove that; can we? Let’s move on.
There is a USB-C cable in the Galaxy S23’s box
Lest I forget, I need to mention that Samsung included a USB Type-C to USB Type-C cable in the box, though. What is missing is the charging brick. As if I didn’t have a number of cables lying around the house as well. Anyway, that’s the situation.
What of wireless charging and reverse wireless charging?
Does Samsung S23 support wireless charging? Yes, it does. It supports 15W Qi standard. I have an old 9W wireless charger in the house, fished it out, plugged it I to a wall socket and placed the S23 on it. Did it charge? Yes, it did. And it charged faster than regular speed, too. So, I have two ways of charging the S23 now. Lastly, this phone also supports 4.5W reverse wireless charging, so it can be used to wireless charge another phone.
The moral of the story
Ahem! What’s the moral of the story? Take good care of your fast chargers, folks. Keep them in good shape. Imagine if I had damaged or discarded my Mi charger from 2020. What would be my fate today? If you ever buy a versatile fast charger, keep it in good condition. Take good care of it.any of today’s high-end and premium smartphones do not ship with a charger.
Way back from the days of EPOC, Symbian, Palm, PocketPC/Windows Mobile, BlackBerry/BB10, webOS, Windows Phone, Firefox, Ubuntu Touch, to Android, iOS, and KaiOS operating systems, founder of MobilityArena, Mister Mobility, has owned a few hundred smartphones and tablets, and counting.