Samsung’s range of Galaxy S26 smartphones is coming soon and the Ultra is getting one of the best upgrades, or so we thought.
The rumoured upgrade from 45- to 60W charging (though pretty much confirmed) sounded like it would be a significant enhancement for the phone, but new information suggests otherwise.
Samsung’s new 60W charger is already on sale, but Ice Universe has posted charging test results for the S26 Ultra, stating that the phone can go from 0 to 75% in 30-minutes.
It sounds impressive, but even though the test was reportedly done under lab conditions, which typically favours benchmarks, the result isn’t much better than its predecessor.
In normal conditions, we found the Galaxy S25 Ultra reached 70% in the same time (and other sites have slightly better results, too). A few percent for an extra 15W isn’t much to write home about, then.
And it’s worth noting that it’s expected this charging speed will be exclusive to the S26 Ultra, with the S26 and S26+ set to stay at 25- and 45W respectively.
An unknown factor here is the size of the Ultra’s battery, with some rumours suggesting a slight increase to 5200mAh, which would make the result marginally more impressive, with others suggesting Samsung will stick with 5000mAh.
Samsung
Hope isn’t lost, because Samsung might be making a significant upgrade in another area of charging.
Wireless charging could jump from 15- to 25W, but the big question is whether this includes Qi2 magnetic charging (ie MagSafe) built-in or if it will still require a case to enable it like previously.
Samsung will need to build it into the phones to better compete with the Google Pixel 10 series, which all have Qi2 (or what Google calls Pixelsnap) embedded.
We’ll find out soon as the Galaxy S26 range is tipped to launch on 25 February.
Author: Chris Martin, Managing Editor, Tech Advisor
Tech Advisor Managing Editor Chris got his break as a reporter at infamous site The Inquirer and has been with us for more than 12 years. With a BA degree in Music Technology, audio is his specialism, but over the years he has reviewed all kinds of gadgets, from smartwatches to mesh Wi-Fi to coffee machines.