What is the Best Charging Speed for Your Device?

Posted on Apr 22nd 2013

As the size, speed and features of your phone have grown over the years, so has its thirst for power. Smartphones and tablets have improved leaps and bounds over the flip phones of yesteryear, so its natural that the chargers we use to power them must keep up as well. To help you make more informed purchases, we've created a simple guide that will help you pick the best charger for your phone and your charging needs.

A charger's power output / speed is measured in milliamps (mA).  This is usually listed on the charger itself and our website shows the mA output for nearly all recent chargers.  Here is an approximate guide to charger types and their corresponding mA:

500 mA – This was the standard charging rate in the past but it would be considered mid-rate for most phones these days

750 mA – Standard for regular cell phones

1000 mA – Standard for smartphones / Rapid for regular cell phones

2100 mA – Standard for tablets / Rapid for all phones

If you're unsure about where your phone fits into these categories, check the mA listing on the charger that came with your phone.

Other options are available for those who don’t have the luxury of cell phone downtime. Portable batteries are available for any phone with a USB cable and can carry enough power to charge your phone two or three times before needing to be recharged themselves, like this Tylt PowerPlant  (available for micro USB, Apple 30-pin and Lightning connectors), which we recommend as an excellent portable battery charging option.

It’s worth noting that if you regularly plug in your device overnight, charging rate really won’t affect you, as you’ll almost certainly reach a full charge by morning with a charger of any charging rate.

However, if you want to be able to plug in a dying phone in between business meetings, you'll want a speedy charger. That's when this guide will come in handy.