Samsung’s 60W Galaxy S26 Ultra upgrade is exciting, but I have concerns

The current 45W power level is already in a sweet spot, taking just under an hour to fully charge the phone. Still, that extra boost will undoubtedly come in handy when you need to bring the phone back from the brink quickly. More juice in fewer minutes is always welcome when you’re in a hurry.

And yet, I feel a sting of hesitation — a faster-charging Galaxy S26 Ultra leaves me with plenty more questions I want answered.

Before you ask, I’m not worried about long-term battery health implications. Samsung has historically played it safe with charging temperatures. My biggest concern with Samsung moving to a higher power level is that it might require yet another plug. Yes, you might already have a 100W charging brick ready and waiting on your desk, but as we know, charging is a mess of standards and compatibility issues. Even today’s high-power plugs aren’t guaranteed to work.

Currently, the Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra uses USB Power Delivery PSS to reach 45W, which is excellent as it’s a universally supported standard that’s increasingly common in even affordable USB-C adapters and power banks. It uses one of two power combinations: 9V/4.5A or 14V/3A.

Thankfully, PSS is designed for scalable voltage, giving handsets many more options for fast charging. However, plugs usually come in one of three maximum PPS voltage options: 11V, 16V, or 21V. This can cause problems if brands are too rigid. The Google Pixel 9 Pro XL, for instance, requires a 20V PPS plug to hit its far more modest 37W power level.

Samsung is unlikely to use 9V–11V charging to hit 60W, as that would draw over 6A — requiring a rather special USB-C cable. High currents also lead to voltage loss across cables, making them less efficient than higher-voltage solutions.

Samsung could only enable this mode on 14V plugs and pull about 4.3A — roughly the same peak current already drawn by the S25 Ultra. This would still require a suitable cable, but 5A cables are fairly common now. Alternatively, Samsung could push closer to 20V and lower the current further.

The drawback in either case is that plugs supporting these higher PPS voltage and current levels are less common, especially those meeting the 21V requirement. While today’s best wall chargers can power this setup, many older plugs, including some of Samsung’s official accessories, are not equipped for it. That said, Samsung does offer a 65W Trio adapter in select markets.

The good news? Samsung will almost certainly retain 45W charging support, meaning existing plugs will still charge the new Ultra quickly — just not at the full 60W. That’s a fair compromise for those who don’t want to buy yet another plug.

60W for the Ultra is great, but our biggest gripes about Galaxy charging haven’t been with the top-tier model — it’s the mediocre 25W capability of the smaller Galaxy S25 that’s the real letdown. It takes almost 80 minutes to fill its smaller battery and feels sluggish compared to the S25 Ultra’s 55 minutes.

Worse, Samsung’s budget Galaxy A56 5G now offers 45W charging, and the same is reportedly coming to the Galaxy S25 FE. It’s an overdue upgrade that really needs to be included in all of Samsung’s flagship-tier phones this year, not just the larger, more expensive models.

Interestingly, Samsung appears to be ditching the regular and Plus models, shifting to a Galaxy S26 Pro, S26 Edge, and S26 Ultra product range. That’s a bold change, and the Pro really ought to charge as fast, if not faster, than Samsung’s budget offerings. It’ll be a very bizarre state of affairs if it doesn’t. The Edge’s slim form factor might limit it to 25W, but the Pro should ideally take the best of the Plus — including its charging capabilities — and slim it down into something more pocketable.

If Samsung delivers 45W and 60W universal charging for the Galaxy S26 Pro and S26 Ultra, it would be a big win for charging convenience. It would also eliminate one of our few remaining complaints about the series and put pressure on Apple and Google to step up from the bare minimum when it comes to charging tech.

Don’t mess it up, Samsung.