Found out 90% of USB cables won't fast charge modern phones

I was wondering why my phone took forever to charge with some cables I had lying around. Did a quick test with a USB meter from Amazon and found out most cheap cables are only rated for 2.4A or less. The surprising stat I saw on a tech site was that 90% of USB cables sold on Amazon can't handle 3A or higher fast charging. Anyone else run into this or have a reliable brand that actually works?

2 comments

2 Comments

claireg811mo ago

...and here I was thinking a cable was just a cable. That's wild. So I've basically been relying on garbage this whole time, letting my phone trickle charge while I'm getting ready in the morning. I've got a pile of those cheap ones from gas stations and random multipacks, and now I'm wondering how many of them are basically useless. I picked up an Anker cable a while back and it actually works okay, but even some of their older ones are apparently slow. Honestly, this whole thing makes me feel like a sucker for not checking before.

sam_anderson1mo ago

Dude, I felt the exact same way when I finally tested a bunch of my cables. @claireg81 you're not alone. I had a gas station micro USB that took like four hours to charge my old phone from dead to full. I thought that was normal. Then I borrowed a friend's cable and it did it in an hour and a half. Felt like an idiot honestly. Now I keep one good cable by my bed and toss the rest in a drawer for emergencies only.