How fast do I need to charge my phone to be considered a "fast charge"? According to Android, fast charging is anything over 7.5W — it's pretty slow for everyone to agree. That might have been considered fast 10 years ago, but not in 2024. 

Fortunately, Android15 can correct this obvious mistake by changing the definition of the meaning of fast charging — android permissions change to 20W instead the phone screen under 5W declares that your device is "charging slowly". More than 7.5W means you're "charging rapidly" right now, and everything in between is simply boring the old "charging". I don't know if the threshold for slow charging will change, but the minimum speed for fast charging should have improved considerably.

The site points out that this change is not yet available in the Android15 beta. That's why beta Pixel phones should stick to the same threshold at any time until this feature is enabled. To be honest, 20W is not exactly "fast" when it comes to charging the phone. It's considerably faster than 7.5W, don't misunderstand me, but when you have a phone that's inching there towards a speed of 100W, 20W will do it

Then something like OnePlus12 might offer up to 80W of charge, while a phone like Pixel8Pro or iPhone15Pro Max will do it. Will be top at 30W.Google will be making itself, and some of the best-selling phones around will look bad by suggesting that they can't fast charge.

Some mobile phone manufacturers have already made this change, with Xiaomi, Samsung and others redefining the fast charging of mobile phones. The former will use the same 20W threshold as Google for fast charging, while Samsung has determined the 24W, which is the same maximum charging speed as the Galaxy S25.

Google will not change the way your phone is charged, even if it changes the definition of fast charging. Instead, it just changes the way Android communicates that information to its users, giving the false impression that the phone is charging quickly if it doesn't.

I don't know when Android will have to shift these boundaries again. But instead of relying on large mobile phone companies that actually make big improvements to the overall charging speed, incremental updates and only the time they have Samsung will tell.