The multifunctional USB-C port might be handy for connecting everything with a single cable, but its opaque nature leaves much to be desired when it comes to knowing which charger will power up even the best smartphones as quickly as possible. This situation has been made all the more complicated by brands dropping smartphone chargers from their boxes, leaving you to hope a current model works or having to splash out extra cash on a new charger.
While it’s true that some brands have dropped chargers from their boxes for a few generations now, this has tended to be companies like Apple, Google, and Samsung, which use the widely supported USB Power Delivery protocol to charge their handsets. This year, however, I’ve reviewed plenty of smartphones that rely on proprietary charging capabilities to charge as quickly as possible yet don’t include a charger in the box. Just when I thought USB-C charging could get any worse.