Samsung’s Galaxy Z Fold 4 is the newest of Samsung’s flagship foldables, and it builds upon the hardware strides made with the Z Fold 3 and Galaxy S22 to deliver an experience that aims to be better than the former and equal to the latter.
However, one area that hasn’t seen much improvement is the Galaxy Z Fold 4’s charging speed. Unlike other Android phones, some of which have adopted charging speeds of 100W, the Galaxy Fold 4 keeps the tried-and-true 25W charging speed. While that’s a downside for those who want to fully charge in an hour, the lower charging speed is safer for your battery, and you probably won’t need to buy a new, proprietary charger to use it. Unfortunately, though, that means you’re also not getting a charger with the Galaxy Z Fold 4.
As with most 2022 flagship smartphones, Samsung is excluding a charger from the packaging because there’s a good chance you already have one that works. There’s also the e-waste and environmental argument that big companies push, as well as the practical idea that smaller boxes allow for more phones to be shipped at once. Either way, the Fold 4 isn’t coming with a fast charger
The Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 4 has decently fast charging
Let’s talk about the fast charging on the Galaxy Z Fold 4. Unlike OnePlus and Xiaomi, Samsung, like Apple, equips its phones with modest charging speeds of around 30W. You’ll be able to charge the foldable to 50% in half an hour, though a full charge will take more than double that time as the Z Fold 4 slows down charging at high levels in order to protect your battery’s health.
Speaking of battery life, the Galaxy Fold 4 comes with a 4, 400mAh battery. It’s not the biggest battery in the world, especially now that Android phones routinely sneak into the 5,000mAh range. Certainly, Samsung says that the Snapdragon 8 Plus Gen 1 processor paired with its own One UI software will help the Fold 4 last the day, but a fuller review will have our findings.
Galaxy Fold 4 chargers are everywhere
The good part about that modest charging? You can find a 22W to 30W charger for your Fold 4 pretty much anywhere. You’ll get the most bang for your buck with 25W chargers since the Fold 4 only supports up to 25W. Anything after that will offer diminishing returns. If you need to buy a new charger, we have a few curated collections of USB-C cables and fast chargers that should work well with the new Z Fold 4.
If you’d like to reuse an older charger, the fact that it uses USB-C also means that your current smartphone or laptop charger could double as a Z Fold charger. Best of all, it’s no iPhone, and that’s a good thing as far as charging is concerned.