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Why Do Some USB-C Cables Charge Slowly?

If you own multiple charging cables for your phone or whatever device you’re attempting to charge, you may have noticed that some of your USB-C cords charge faster than others. So, of course, this brings up the question: why do some USB-C cables charge slowly?

The charging speed of your USB-C cable is determined by the size of the charging wires inside. Bigger wires traditionally lead to faster charging, although you may not be able to bring out the faster-charging potential of your cable without a fast-charging brick.

We live in a world where not all cables are created equally. However, it’s very simple to spot what cables are fast-charging and what cables aren’t. So, let’s get into the topic of fast-charging USB-C cables to help you charge your devices as fast as possible.

Why Do Some USB-C Cables Charge Slowly?

Woman hand plugging battery charger on phone

Every USB-C cable (on Amazon) is not created equally. Some will charge your devices faster than others, and some will charge your devices slower. But why is this, and why would they not make all charging cables the same?

The answer to this question is straightforward. While most USB-C cables look identical or similar, their components can differ.

On the inside of a standard charging cable, there are four wires. Two wires are dedicated to transferring data to and from your device. These come into play when you use your USB-C cable to move files from your device to a computer and vice versa.

The other two wires are your charging wires. These carry current to your device from the USB cable. This current is the electricity that charges your device.

The size of these charging wires determines how fast the charging cable will charge your device. The cause is simple, bigger cables carry more current, and more current means more electricity for your device at once.

Can USB Cables Affect Charging Speed?

As discussed in the previous section, USB cables significantly impact your device’s charging speed. Again, it comes down to the size of the charging wires inside your charging cable. However, there is another crucial factor to consider.

This critical factor is the charging brick you use alongside your charging cable. You won’t get much of a faster charge without a high-speed charging brick to go along with your high-speed charging cable.

It doesn’t matter if you have the highest-power USB-C cable imaginable by man; if you don’t have a high-speed charging brick to go along with it, it won’t receive that much power.

This is due to what these devices do. The power brick is the device that pulls the power from the power outlet, whereas the USB-C cable moves the electricity that the power brick pulls out.

After reading this, you may think that all you need is a high-power charging brick, and you’ll be good. Unfortunately, however, this one also isn’t true.

It isn’t a good idea to have a power brick that’s more powerful than the USB-C connected to it, as the USB-C won’t be able to transfer the power fast enough. So to get the fastest charging possible, you need to use a high-power charging brick and a fast-charging USB cable.

Identifying Fast Charging Cables

USB cables love to refer to themselves as fast charging even when they aren’t that much faster than regular USB cables. Other than just referring to themselves as fast charging, fast-charging USB cables (on Amazon) have a few characteristics you can use to determine if they are fast charging.

The first step is to examine your fast-charging cable’s amperage. This amperage value represents the strength of the electricity in your USB cable. For example, a fast-charging cable will have an amperage of around 2A.

Another good sign that your USB cable may support fast charging is a thicker cable. As we mentioned before, fast-charging cables need thicker wires inside of them. This means that often, they require thicker cables to support these thicker wires.

Thicker cables aren’t always a surefire way to spot a fast-charging cable though. The best way is to get the cable from an official source. For example, you can often buy fast-charging USB cables from your smartphone manufacturer.

These fast-charging cables are highly likely to work since they are made with working with your phone in mind. They will also likely come with a power brick specifically created to support them.

Can You Increase the Charging Speed?

If you want to charge your phone faster without buying a fancy fast-charging cable with a fast-charging power brick (on Amazon), there are a couple of options.

Let’s explore some ideas that may help you charge your phone faster.

Plug it into the Wall Rather Than Your Computer

Woman hand plugging mobile phone charger into socket closeup

This depends on your computer’s manufacturer, but on average, the USB ports on your computer are weaker than the power outlets in your home. This makes it smarter for you to plug your phone into your power outlets rather than your computer.

Turn Your Phone Off While it’s Charging

This may seem obvious, but having your phone fully turned off while charging will shorten the charging process. This is simple: being on drains your phone’s battery.

If your phone is off, you won’t be draining the battery while charging it.

Switch Your Phone to Airplane Mode

Just like how your phone drains battery slightly while charging if it’s on, if your phone is constantly searching for a signal while it’s charging, you will not be gaining battery as fast.

Turning off your phone’s signal using airplane mode will cause it to charge more quickly.

Don’t Use the Device While it’s Charging

Finally, we have another simple idea. If you use your phone while charging, you will be draining the battery you’re trying to charge. So simply leaving your phone alone while it charges will do wonders for its charging speed.