Summary List Placement
- Samsung uses a charging standard called “PPS” for the Galaxy S21 series that most other chargers don’t use.
- Samsung’s 25W USB-C Fast Charging Wall Charger is the only recommended charger for the Galaxy S21 series so far.
- We have yet to test RavPower’s 30W PD Fast Wall Charger that supports PPS and could become our new pick.
Table of Contents: Masthead Sticky25W USB-C Fast Charging Wall Charger (small)
Samsung has followed Apple’s lead by not including a charger with its latest smartphones, the Galaxy S21 series.
That leaves you to use a charger you already own, whether it’s from a previous phone or a third-party charger you bought yourself.
Keeping in mind that Samsung’s Galaxy S21, Galaxy S21 Plus, and Galaxy S21 Ultra have a peak charging speed of 25W, we tested a variety of chargers — including Samsung’s own 25W charger and some third-party chargers from reputable accessory makers — that claim at least 25W charging speed or more.
How we tested chargers for the Galaxy S21 phones
To test the charging speeds for the Galaxy S21 series, we used the standard Galaxy S21 as our test unit.
Before plugging in a charger, we drained the Galaxy S21 to the point that it no longer turns on. Once drained, we plugged in a charger and kept the phone off to prevent as many variables as possible. At the moment we plugged the Galaxy S21 into the charger, we started a timer for 15 minutes. After 15 minutes had passed, we unplugged the phone, which showed us the battery charge percentage for a 15-minute charge, and recorded it. We then plugged the charger back into the Galaxy S21, and set another timer for 15 minutes, and repeated the process to record the result of 30 minutes of charging.
Which chargers we tested
So far, the chargers we tested include Samsung’s 25W USB-C Fast Charging Wall Charger, Belkin’s Boost Charge 30W USB-C PD GaN Wall Charger, Anker’s PowerPort III Mini 30W, and Moshi’s 18W Qubit. Moshi’s 18W Qubit is the exception to our 25W-or-more criteria, as it was the only charger the company had available at the time of testing. We’re still waiting on Aukey’s Minima 30W PD USB-C Wall Charger and RavPower’s 30W 2-Port PD Fast Wall Charger for testing.
Further testing on certain additional chargers may prove frivolous, as Samsung uses an uncommon charging standard called Programmable Power Supply (PPS) that few companies and accessory makers incorporate into their chargers. As a result, we found that third-party chargers that don’t support PPS technology charge the Galaxy S21 phones more slowly than Samsung’s own charger, regardless of how much wattage they can output. We even tried an 87W Apple laptop charger that doesn’t feature PPS, which had no impact on how quickly it charged our Galaxy S21 test unit.
Which charger you should buy for the Galaxy S21 phones
With the fact that few chargers come with PPS technology, there’s only one charger you should buy for Samsung’s Galaxy S21 phones, at least if you value the fastest charging speed possible for the Galaxy S21 series — Samsung’s own 25W USB-C Fast Charging Wall Charger.
Here were the results of our testing. Note that these are the results using the standard Galaxy S21. The battery charge percentages are likely to be different for the Galaxy S21 Plus and Galaxy S21 Ultra, which have larger batteries. Still, our recommendations and results are unchanged, regardless of which Galaxy S21 model you own:
| Charger type |
Charging time |
| Samsung Adaptive Fast Charger (15W) |
15 mins – 10% / 30 mins – 22% |
| Belkin Boost Charge 30W USB-C PD GaN Wall Charger | 15 mins – 18% / 30 mins – 38% |
| Anker PowerPort III Mini 30W | 15 mins – 19% / 30 mins – 38% |
| Moshi Qubit 18W |
15 mins – 25% / 30 mins – 47% |
| Samsung 25W Super Fast Wall Charger | 15 mins – 29% / 30 mins – 51% |
We still have one more charger with PPS to test
The only other accessory maker and relevant charger we’ve seen that includes PPS technology is RavPower with its PD Pioneer 20W Wall Adapter, and RavPower’s 30W 2-Port PD Fast Wall Charger. We’re getting the RavPower 30W 2-Port PD Fast Wall Charger in for testing, and we’ll update this guide after obtaining our results. We’re not looking at RavPower’s PD Pioneer 20W Wall Adapter, as its 20W charging speed doesn’t match the Galaxy S21 series’ 25W charging capacity.
We estimate that RavPower’s 30W 2-Port PD Fast Wall Charger may charge the Galaxy S21 at the same speed as Samsung’s own charger, considering that it’s rated beyond the Galaxy S21 series’ 25W capacity and includes PPS technology. As a result, our recommendation may shift to RavPower’s charger, as it can be found for a cheaper price overall than Samsung’s own 25W charger that includes a charging cable.
25W USB-C Fast Charging Wall Charger (button)