How long does it take?

Most modern smartphones boast all-day battery life, and Samsung’s new Galaxy S24 series is no exception in that regard. However, charging speeds are much more variable across the industry, with zero to full times ranging from under half an hour to nearly two full hours. Samsung has historically skewed towards the conservative end of this spectrum, but it has made small progress in recent years too. So what should we expect from the Galaxy S24 family in terms of charging speeds? Here’s everything you need to know.

Samsung typically doesn’t mention the exact charging wattage on its spec sheets. Instead, it mentions Super Fast Charging for the Galaxy S24, while the Plus and Ultra models are advertised as supporting Super Fast Charging 2.0.

The vanilla Galaxy S24 supports up to 25W of fast charging power, while the other two S24 smartphones can go up to 45W. This is likely because of the limited cooling hardware available in the smaller smartphone, although Samsung has never officially acknowledged the reason. These specs remain unchanged from last year’s Galaxy S23 family, but we may see a real-world improvement in charging time due to factors we’ll discuss later in this article.

Keep in mind that you don’t get an adapter in the box with any of the three smartphones. Luckily, you don’t have to pay a premium for the best Galaxy S24 chargers. Samsung relies on the universal USB Power Delivery PPS charging standard so there are plenty of third-party options to choose from.

Wireless speeds remain on par across the board, with all three devices accepting a maximum of 15W. That’s also the limit of the Qi charging standard. We were hoping for Qi2 and its magnetic power profile to debut on Samsung’s 2024 flagships, but it looks like it will have to wait till 2025 instead.

While the difference between 25W and 45W may seem stark on paper, it won’t lead to a halving in charging time. Based on the charging behavior of previous Samsung smartphones, here’s what you can expect from each smartphone in the Galaxy S24 family. We will update this article with our testing data as soon as we run our suite of tests on each Galaxy S24 device, although we don’t expect a lot to change compared to last year’s Galaxy S23 series.

Galaxy S24

The smallest smartphone in the Galaxy S24 family will also charge the slowest, topping out at just 25W. Virtually all Samsung smartphones on the market today charge at this speed too, including budget M and A-series devices, so it’s a bit unfortunate Samsung hasn’t bumped up this spec yet.

Having said that, the vanilla S24’s small stature means it only packs a 4,000mAh battery. This is quite a bit smaller than the nearly 5,000mAh of the S24 Ultra and Plus models. In terms of charging, we expect the Galaxy S24 to take just over an hour to fully charge up. For context, last year’s S23 took 70 minutes and wasn’t too far behind its larger siblings.

As for wireless charging, we expect the S24 will take roughly one and a half hour to fully charge up. Keep in mind that this time can vary based on the ambient temperature. A fan-cooled wireless charger will always perform better than a passive one, with the side-effect of safeguarding your device’s battery health in the long term.

Galaxy S24 Plus

The Galaxy S24 Plus enjoys a bump in battery capacity this generation, moving up 200mAh to 4,900mAh. That could have an impact on charging times, so we’ll be sure to test it out and compare zero to full times vs the Galaxy S23 Plus.

In spite of the big jump from 25W to 45W, the S24 Plus won’t utilize the maximum available power for the entirety of the charging process. Last year, Samsung’s flagship phone would draw less than 25W after 55-60% charge had been attained. This is to reduce stress on the battery and prevent long-term battery degradation. However, it means slower charging than the numbers on the spec sheet would suggest.

Still, the Galaxy S24 Plus isn’t slow to charge by any means and should complete a full charge around the 60 minute mark. For context, the last-gen S23 Plus took exactly one hour to go from full to empty. Wireless charging times will vary, but a full charge should be theoretically possible within two hours.

Galaxy S24 Ultra

With an unchanged 5,000mAh battery capacity, the S24 Ultra seems like the most known quantity of the trio. Last year’s S23 Ultra completed its zero to full run within 57 minutes. Surprisingly, that was six minutes faster than the preceding S22 Ultra with identical battery and charging specs. The reason? The S23 Ultra’s improved thermal management, which allowed it to sustain higher power draw for longer periods.

This year, Samsung has announced a big upgrade to the thermal handling capability of the S24 Ultra. So if the trend holds true, we should see another small reduction to charging time even with the same 45W spec. Only time will tell, though, so check back for our full testing data soon. If you’re only looking for a quick top-up, the S23 Ultra managed to reach 50% charge within just 17 minutes last year. When charged wirelessly, expect to wait upwards of two hours for the S24 Ultra’s battery to go from empty to full.

While not a lot has changed since last year, the Galaxy S24 still remains competitive against most smartphones in the flagship segment. This is especially true in Western markets where brands like Google and Apple still only support 30W (or below) of charging power.

For example, the iPhone 15 Pro Max takes an hour to breach the 80% charge threshold. That’s already slower than the Galaxy S24 Ultra, but the last 20% also takes longer as Apple throttles speeds towards the tail end of the charging process. And over in the Android camp, we’ve tested the Pixel 8 Pro’s charging speed and found that it completes a full charge within 79 minutes. The S24 Plus and Ultra will charge up 15 to 20 minutes faster.

However, Samsung does lose in terms of charging speed when compared to its Asian contemporaries like OPPO, OnePlus, and Xiaomi. The S24 family’s once-impressive 45W charging doesn’t hold a candle to the 100W SuperVOOC spec you’ll find in the OnePlus 12, for example. The latter can complete a full charge within just 26 minutes.

With improving battery life every year, though, you likely won’t feel the pinch when it comes to the S24 series’ charging speeds. Unless you’re a smartphone gamer or heavy multitasker, chances are that you won’t need to reach for the plug until the day is over anyway.