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ZDNET's key takeaways

I evaluated three rapid charging smartphones.
I employed both original and third party power adapters.
Two handsets exceeded their stated rates while one came up short.

Charging velocity ranks among the figures that promotional teams enjoy highlighting. This holds especially true for OnePlus. It may serve as a casual remark yet when fresh devices arrive the conversation often turns to promoted charging figures. From 25 watts up to 120 watts the pace at which your handset replenishes power can prove relevant. The speed of the adapter you select also counts since two of the three devices arrive without a wall adapter included.

Also: I opened a high capacity portable power unit after it let me down quickly and regretted the decision

A lesser known detail is that even if a phone supports 60W charging that rate rarely applies across most of the replenishment cycle. It falls well short in reality. Still you might wonder how near it actually comes. To explore this I replenished a Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra an iPhone 17 Pro Max and a OnePlus 15 while logging the data. Several insights emerged along with a handful of surprises.

The devices under review

The iPhone 17 Pro Max and the Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra embody the top offerings from the two dominant smartphone brands in the United States. If you are reading this there is a good chance your device carries either a Samsung logo or an apple icon on its rear. The OnePlus 15 emerges as an example of what could be feasible in the US market though it falls short of that promise as we will explore shortly.

Also: I have relied on adaptive power adapters with both iPhone and Android devices for twelve months yet the question remains whether you should follow suit

The iPhone 17 Pro Max arrives with a 5,088 mAh lithium ion cell that supports up to 40W wired replenishment. The Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra features a 5,000 mAh lithium ion cell rated for 60W charging. The OnePlus 15 includes a 7,300 mAh silicon carbon cell advertised at 120W. I worded that final detail with care since the results soon clarified the situation.

The OnePlus 15 includes both a wall adapter and cable while the remaining two devices ship solely with a cable. Apple offers a 40 W Dynamic Power adapter priced at 39 dollars. Samsung provides a 45W travel adapter bundled with a magnetic wireless charging puck for 71.25 dollars. Since an adapter purchase is likely anyway why not consider a third party choice? I selected Anker given its strong reputation in the charging space. I chose an Anker Prime GaN charger along with an Anker bio cable priced at 59.99 dollars and 21.83 dollars respectively from Amazon.

The findings

Among the collected data several points stand out. First the OnePlus adapter falls far short of the promoted 120W figure. It remained in the 20 percent to 40 percent range throughout the session reaching only 46W with its native adapter. The Anker combination actually replenished both the OnePlus and Samsung devices more quickly than their factory adapters which proved rather amusing.

Also: I examined inexpensive charging accessories from Temu and the outcome proved even less favorable than anticipated

Another notable detail emerged with the S26 Ultra rated at 60W yet it reached a peak of 61W. Likewise the iPhone rated for a maximum of 40W exceeded that level during its initial five minutes.

Overall replenishment durations concluded as follows.

Samsung proved notably efficient completing a full charge from empty in less than sixty minutes. OnePlus landed in the middle with slightly more than an hour while the iPhone finished last requiring over ninety minutes. This explains why I typically recharge my iPhone overnight. Among these outcomes Samsung delivered the most welcome surprise while the OnePlus 15 proved the greatest letdown.

Also: One everyday charging practice was silently reducing my iPhone battery life and here is the remedy

OnePlus appears to have lost its edge in rapid charging and that outcome is regrettable.

Here are additional observations. When an adapter purchase becomes necessary consider a third party model. A Samsung device gains roughly three percent per minute during the first sixty percent of capacity before the pace eases. The other two devices advance at about two percent per minute through the first half of their capacity.

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In the end charging speeds receive more attention than they merit. Apart from OnePlus which stayed below forty percent of its promoted rate throughout the session the remaining two devices operated mostly between twenty percent and sixty percent of capacity. This result is unsurprising yet it feels misleading. I would almost prefer not to know the rated capabilities rather than receive inaccurate information. That remains my personal view.