A Samsung Galaxy S25 certification suggests the phones don’t solve one of the Galaxy S24’s biggest problems

On November 29, 2024By Littum

The Samsung Galaxy S25, S25 Plus and S25 Ultra have all been certified by US regulators
They will apparently all charge at the same speed as their predecessors
The Samsung Galaxy S25 does not appear to have ultra-broadband

The Samsung Galaxy S24 and its siblings are among the best Android phones you can buy, but one thing they’re far from the best at is fast charging, with even the Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra’s charging speeds being surpassed by some rival handsets. Unfortunately, it looks like the Samsung Galaxy S25 series will charge just as slowly.

Following a recent FCC (Federal Communications Commission) certification for the Samsung Galaxy S25 in the US, the Galaxy S25 Plus and Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra have also now been certified, as discovered by 91 Mobileand these certifications reveal the likely charging speeds.

In the case of the Samsung Galaxy S25, this speed is 25W, like its predecessor, while the Samsung Galaxy S25 Plus and Ultra appear to charge at 45W, which is again the same as the current models.

Technically, these certifications don’t reveal the phones’ charging speeds, but they do reveal the speeds of the power adapters attached to each phone, which in most cases would match what the phone is capable of.

Far behind the rivals

Samsung Galaxy S24 Plus hands on bottom handheld angled

Samsung Galaxy S24 Plus (Image credit: Future | Alex Walker-Todd)

So it’s a shame when you consider that the Xiaomi 14T Pro, for example, offers 120W wired charging and 50W wireless, while the OnePlus 13 supports 100W wired charging and 50W wireless – and these are just a few examples of much faster Android phone charging .

And speaking of wireless charging, 91Mobiles interprets the FCC information as saying that the base Samsung Galaxy S25 will only offer 9W of wireless charging, down from an already slow 15W on the Samsung Galaxy S24.

However, it seems like an unlikely downgrade, and actually delicious @Jukanlosreve discovered that, based on the FCC documentation, it’s actually reverse wireless charging (the ability to wirelessly charge other devices with the phone) that’s 9W, while wireless charging is probably still 15W. It would actually be an upgrade to reverse wireless charging as it tops out at 4.5W on the Galaxy S24.

Aside from charging speeds, there isn’t much of interest in these FCC certifications, although they do say the Samsung Galaxy S25 will lack UWB (ultra-wideband). This is a wireless communication protocol that can be used for things like unlocking car doors and more precisely tracking devices like Samsung’s SmartTag 2.

UWB is present on the Samsung Galaxy S24 Plus and Ultra, but not on the base model, and it sounds like the same will be the case with the Samsung Galaxy S25 line. So in short, almost none of the things that these certifications mention seem to change from the Galaxy S24 series.

We’d still take all of this with a grain of salt, but the FCC should be working off of official information, so these details are likely correct. We’ll probably find out for sure in January, as this is when the Samsung Galaxy S25 series is expected to be launched.