Samsung Galaxy A16 5G does not charge at 25W speeds: this is the 2nd budget model failing the test

I conducted another battery charging test after the one I did on the Galaxy A06 and found out that Samsung Galaxy A16 5G does not charge at 25W speeds. Deja vu.

I reviewed Samsung A06 a few months ago, a phone marketed as supporting 25W wired charging, and found out that it does not charge at that speed. That was such a dampener, considering the initial excitement I had felt when the specs of the phone was released.

I have just conducted battery charging test on its more capable sibling, Samsung A16 5G, and again, the A16 5G does not charge at 25W. It charges much slower. 25W charging should fill up on about 1 hour 30 minutes, at the most, but the A16 5G was only at 65% at the 1 hour 30 minute mark.

How fast charging works

I have an original Samsung 45W charger (purchased from an official Samsung store) and that is what I used for the charging test. A higher specified charger is designed to charge a lower specified phone at the maximum speed specified for the phone. As such, a 45W charger should charge a 25W Samsung phone at its maximum supported speed of 25W. Let me explain it in more details.

• Charger Compatibility: USB Power Delivery (PD) chargers, like the 45W Samsung charger, are designed to communicate with devices and provide only the power the device requests and can handle.
• Wattage Negotiation: The 25W phone will communicate with the 45W charger and will only draw a maximum of 25W. The charger won’t force 45W into the phone.

It is completely safe and recommended to use a higher wattage charger with a lower wattage device. The phone regulates the power it receives, so it is never overloaded with electric charge or power.

I have taken the pains to explain how fast charging works between chargers and devices, so it is clear to readers that the procedure I followed is correct.

The Test: Samsung Galaxy A16 5G does not charge at 25W speeds

The Samsung A16 5G was at 7% battery when I plugged it in to start charging. At the 10% battery mark, the phone displayed a notification saying that it had “1 hour 16 minutes until full”. That sounded like it; that was within the 25W charging time frame. But at the 1 hour 30 minute mark, the battery was only at 65%. It wasn’t until the phone had been plugged for 2 hours 31 minutes that it finally got a full charge. That is not 25W charging time.

I remember that the lower end Samsung A06, also marketed by Samsung as supporting 25W wired charging, took 2 hours 20 minutes to get a full charge from empty. It didn’t charge at 25W too. So far, I have tested these phones with multiple compatible Power Delivery chargers and not once did either of them charge at 25W.

Something is definitely wrong with Samsung’s claims of 25W wired charging in these budget models. One has to wonder if it won’t be similar experiences with other budget Samsung models like Galaxy A06 5G, and Galaxy A16 LTE, among others.

If you want super fast charging in a budget phone

What I can tell you, authoritatively (because I have tested them) is that neither the Galaxy A06 nor the Galaxy A16 5G charge at 25W. They charge much slower – more like 10W to 15W speeds. What makes this worse is that some similarly-priced phones from some competing brands offer faster charging speeds – 33W and 45W – and those ones tend to live up to their promises.

If you want super fast charging at the ₦250,000 to ₦300,000 price bracket, it looks like you are better off looking at some of those competing phones from other brands. Samsung Galaxy A16 5G does not charge at 25W, as specified.