The Samsung Galaxy S23 close to launch

Before a smartphone can make it out into the world, it has to be approved by various regulators – and the Samsung Galaxy S23 just showed up at 3C, the Chinese regulatory agency, revealing another key spec along the way.

The phones are still on track for a launch in the not-too-distant future, with February 2023 the month that the handset is most likely to be launched in.

The only real tidbit of information we get from this filing is that the wired charging speed is going to stick at 25W, just like the Samsung Galaxy S22. By today’s standards, that’s not speedy at all, with some handsets almost five times faster (120W) at recharging the battery.

Slow and steady

This caution when it comes to charging speeds is something that we’ve noticed on Samsung’s other premium phones as well. The Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 4, for example, also tops out at a wired charging speed of 25W, with wireless charging at 15W.

It’s perhaps understandable that Samsung is sticking to the 25W wired charging speed for the Galaxy S23, considering what happened with certain Galaxy Note 7 models catching fire – that was back in 2016 though, so it’s not all that recent.

There is one caveat, which is that this regulatory listing only mentions the standard Samsung Galaxy S23 handset. It’s possible that the other models, the Galaxy S23 Plus and the Galaxy S23 Ultra, will up the charging speeds.

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Analysis: how important is charging speed?

The wired charging speed of a phone is maybe not the most important spec when it comes to choosing a new device, but it does have an effect on how a phone is used. If a device can be fully charged in minutes rather than hours, it means battery life isn’t quite so crucial.

If you’re rushing out of the house or making a quick stop at the office then knowing that you can get a significant amount of juice back in your phone’s battery in a short space of time helps to reduce that creeping anxiety that can come on about ending the day with a phone that has died.

Samsung can at least point to Apple as another company that’s taking it slow when it comes to battery charging speeds. The iPhone 14 maxes out at 30W when it comes to wired charging, not far above the reported ceiling for the Galaxy S23.

As long as the 2023 phones come with other improvements, Samsung can probably get away with keeping the charging speed the same on the Galaxy S23 as on its predecessors – and it should at least come with more powerful internals.