I kept buying new chargers trying to fix slow charging — the problem was not the charger

I kept buying new chargers trying to fix slow charging — the problem was not the charger Jorge Aguilar / MakeUseOf By  Jorge Aguilar Published May 30, 2026, 1:00 PM EDT Aggy is a writer and editor who has worked for many high-traffic digital publications. He's a technology and gaming fanboy who has been a writer, editor, consultant, and computer animator. Sign in to your MakeUseOf account Add Us On Summary Generate a summary of this story follow Follow followed Followed Like Like Thread Log in Here is a fact-based summary of the story contents: Try something different: Show me the facts Explain it like I’m 5 Give me a lighthearted recap It is annoying to spend money on a new, high-wattage charger only to see the battery icon barely crawl forward. It happened to me, and I would swap blocks, test different outlets, and even blame the phone for charging slowly . I did not realize that the cable sitting in my drawer was the actual problem. I could have saved so much money if I knew what to look for. Related Why Picking the Right Charger Is More Confusing Than It Should Be (And How to Fix That) Having the right charger for your smartphone makes all the difference. Posts 2 By  Digvijay Kumar I kept buying new chargers, trying to fix slow charging Cheap cables will be what stops you MakeUseOf It is easy to assume that buying an expensive, high-wattage power brick is all you need to get fast charging speeds. I thought so too, but I realized that no matter what bases I used, my phone still charged at a slow pace . The real culprit turned out to be the cheap cables I used to connect it. A fast charger doesn't guarantee fast charging because performance relies on the entire setup working together, including the charger, the device, and the cable. When you pair a 100W charging block with a budget cord, the fast charge will get to the base, but then it's like a traffic jam coming to the phone itself. The cable will throttle your charge before it reaches your phone batt