Does turning on airplane mode help my phone charge faster?
When the battery is low and time is of the essence, many people share the tip that turning on airplane mode will significantly speed up phone charging. But is this trick really effective, or just a long-standing technological misconception?
Modern smartphones are equipped with more and more features, leading to a continuous increase in battery capacity, commonly ranging from 4,000 to 5,000 mAh, or even higher.
Thanks to this, users can confidently use it all day without worrying about running out of power. However, a larger battery also means longer charging times, especially when we don't always have time to wait.
The advent of fast charging technology has partially solved this problem. However, serious incidents in the past, such as the Samsung Galaxy Note 7 battery fire, have forced manufacturers to always strike a balance between charging speed and safety.
Nevertheless, fast charging capabilities remain a major selling point for smartphones. A phone that can charge from 0 to 80% in less than 30 minutes clearly makes a big difference in daily life, despite concerns about long-term effects on battery life.
Therefore, in addition to using genuine chargers and following manufacturer recommendations, many people still look for tips to shorten charging time. One of the most frequently mentioned methods is to turn on airplane mode while charging. The reason seems quite logical: when cellular and Wi-Fi are turned off, the phone consumes less energy, thus charging faster.
In fact, this idea isn't entirely unfounded. In 2014, CNET tested and found that airplane mode shortened charging time by about 4 minutes, and charging to 50% by about 11 minutes. To verify this after a decade, we conducted our own tests and obtained similar results.
However, the problem is that this difference is too small to make a significant difference in everyday use.
What did the real-world testing show?
The tests were conducted on the Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra using a simple procedure: the battery was discharged to 0%, connected to a charger, and the time taken to fully charge to 100% was measured. The phone was turned back on when the battery reached 1%, and in airplane mode tests, this feature was activated immediately afterward. All tests used a single 65W GaN charger and were conducted under similar ambient temperature conditions.
The results showed that charging in airplane mode was consistently slightly faster. The shortest time to fully charge in airplane mode was 1 hour and 2 minutes, while normal charging (with Wi-Fi and cellular data on) took 1 hour and 9 minutes, a difference of about 7 minutes. Repeating the experiment over several weeks, this difference fluctuated between 4 and 7 minutes.
In other words, technically, turning on airplane mode does help charge faster, but in reality, the benefit is only about 5 minutes on average. For most users, this saving isn't significant enough to make it a habit, especially since airplane mode means you can't receive calls or messages while charging.
Ambient temperature affects charging speed more than turning off airplane mode.
Notably, during the initial testing phase, several instances of unusually slow charging in airplane mode were observed. A common factor in these cases was high ambient temperatures, ranging from approximately 32-33°C, causing the device to heat up noticeably.
Later, when tests were conducted in a more stable and comfortable temperature environment, the charging speed returned to the expected level. This shows that ambient temperature affects charging speed more than turning airplane mode on or off.
In reality, users don't always have ideal charging conditions. Therefore, charging speeds will inevitably vary between devices and usage scenarios, regardless of whether you have airplane mode enabled, especially if you maintain less-than-ideal charging habits.
In summary, turning on airplane mode while charging isn't a useless trick, but the benefits are rather modest. If you're in a real hurry, a few minutes saved might be helpful. For most users, however, keeping the phone in a cool environment, using the right charger, and charging correctly are far more important factors in ensuring battery longevity and stable charging.