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Testing shows the Pixel 6 can’t actually do 30 W quick charging

The Pixel 6 Pro.

Enlarge / The Pixel 6 Pro. (credit: Ron Amadeo)

The Pixel 6 is Google’s most competitive hardware release in a long time, but the company is still behind the curve when it comes to quick charging. OnePlus offers proprietary 65 W quick charging, and Qualcomm’s latest charging solution can hit 100 W . Google says the Pixel 6 can be charged at 30 W, which is slower than the best Android phones in its price range.

Our review of the phone noted that the Pixel 6’s charging felt slow, but a report from Google android Authority’s Robert Triggs says that the Pixel 6 doesn’t even live up to the modest 30 W claims it makes on the spec sheet. In testing, Triggs could only get the phone in order to hit peaks of 22 W—and even then, not for very long. In his testing, it took 111 minutes to fully charge the particular Pixel 6 Pro’s 5000 mAh battery from zero to 100 percent, even with the official “30 W” Google adapter (which is not included in the box).

Samsung is a great counter-example. The 5000 mAh Galaxy S21 Ultra can charge from 0 to 100 in 62 minutes—that’s 49 minutes faster than typically the “30 W” Pixel 6—despite Samsung only advertising “25 W” fast charging. Triggs says the Universe S21 Ultra actually peaks at 28 W during charging—faster than advertised.

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