The Galaxy S7 and S7 Edge don’t support Quick Charge 3.0, but the LG G5 does

By Robert Nazarian March 1, 2016

Samsung Galaxy S7 — Andy Boxall/Digital Trends

It was assumed the Galaxy S7 and S7 Edge would be Qualcomm Quick Charge 3.0 capable since both phones feature the Snapdragon 820 processor, at least here in the U.S. Unfortunately both of the new Galaxy phones are only compatible with Quick Charge 2.0. What’s most interesting is the LG G5 has the same exact processor, and it has Quick Charge 3.0. What gives?

Turns out the reason might be that Samsung is using different processors for different markets. Last year, the Galaxy S6 sported the Exynos processor in every region, but Samsung went back to the old ways of utilizing its own Exynos processor or a Qualcomm processor for the Galaxy S7 and S7 Edge.

The speculation is that Samsung went with Quick Charge 2.0 on the Snapdragon 820 variants since the Exynos processor that is used in certain markets isn’t compatible with Quick Charge 3.0, only Quick Charge 2.0. The company might have wanted to keep things more uniform for all markets. Samsung hasn’t made a public statement about this, but it seems to be a decent reason when you consider there should be no hardware limitations with the Snapdragon 820 on the Galaxy S7 and S7 Edge.

Qualcomm’s Quick Charge technology charges your phone or tablet’s battery much faster than traditional chargers. For example, Quick Charge 2.0 can charge your battery 75 percent faster, and Quick Charge 3.0 is rated at four times faster.

A real world example would be a smartphone with a typical 2,750mAh battery will charge to 50 percent in about 30 minutes using Quick Charge 2.0, while the same phone would achieve 80 percent in about 35 minutes with Quick Charge 3.0. On the other hand, traditional charging would yield only 12 percent after 30 minutes.

While Quick Charge 3.0 does appear to be much faster than Quick Charge 2.0, it probably shouldn’t be considered a deal breaker when deciding between the G5, Galaxy S7, or S7 Edge. Both technologies are very fast. Plus, Samsung has another trick up its sleeve as both the Galaxy S7 and S7 Edge feature fast wireless charging, while the G5 doesn’t even offer basic wireless charging.

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Robert Nazarian

Former Digital Trends Contributor

Robert Nazarian became a technology enthusiast when his parents bought him a Radio Shack TRS-80 Color. Now his biggest…

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