Is your Galaxy Watch 9 charging painfully slow? You're not alone. Galaxy Watch 9 and Galaxy Watch Ultra 2 owners across Reddit and Samsung's official forums are getting much slower than advertised charging figures. And some of them are resorting to crazy solutions. One users even put the charging puck on ice!
Estimated time for a full charge of the Galaxy Watch Ultra 2. It actually took more than 4 hours. | Image by Reddit
The Galaxy Watch 9 and Galaxy Watch Ultra 2 were officially announced on July 22, but started hitting the shelves on August 7, just a week ago. People who pre-ordered Samsung's latest watches now find a strange bug - real-life charging figures don't match those advertised by Samsung.
According to Samsung, the 40 mm Watch 9 should charge from 0 to 100% in 80 minutes, while the 44 mm Watch 9 and the Galaxy Watch Ultra 2 should require 10 more minutes for a full charge.
However, users on Reddit have a completely different charging experience.
Is your Galaxy Watch 9 or Galaxy Watch Ultra 2 charging slow?
The Galaxy Watch Ultra 2 takes 4 hours to charge
One Galaxy Watch Ultra 2 user posted a Reddit thread titled "Watch Ultra2 casually taking 4 HOURS to charge." Many users report the same problem in the comments below the original post.
Same problem here. 44mm though. Got the watch 3 days ago. Take two hours to go up to >90%. Then it refuses to reach 100% and got stuck at 9x% (P.S. Battery protection confirmed off). Using the magnetic charger that comes with the watch. My previous watch was Galaxy Watch 4. Have been taking under an hour for a full charge all these years. Somethings off with Watch 9...
- user Key_Measurement8117 on Reddit
Recommended For You
Another Galaxy Watch 9 owner actually documented the whole charging process, which took over 2 hours. Both watches were charged at normal room-temperature conditions.
Thermal throttling seems to be the culprit
Some people initially suggested that third-party chargers or older Samsung chargers might be the problem. The vast majority of users reporting the issue, however, used the bundled charger that comes in the retail box.
What's even worse is that the thermal throttling appears to be quite massive. Charging started at an almost constant 5,5W for the first five minutes (with the watch at 15%), but by the end of the test it had dropped to just 3,5W (when it charged at all). The watch was still only about 50% charged, so there doesn't seem to be any reason for the charging power to decrease by 36%.
- Reddit user d4niel_p
One tech-savvy user found a massive thermal throttling issue that seems to cause the slow charging speeds. It appears that the Galaxy Watch 9 starts charging at 5.5W initially but quickly drops the power to 3.5W due to heat issues.
Galaxy Watch 9 owners are using desktop fans and ice to get a charge
The same user who mapped the power charging profile of the Galaxy Watch 9 resorted to a radical solution. They glued the charging puck to a metal plate and dipped it into ice. Then charged the watch again.
Galaxy Watch 9 charging profiles without cooling (left) and dipped in ice (right). | Images by Reddit
You can see both charging profiles above. It's clear to see that when cooled, the charger of the Galaxy Watch 9 behaves much better. Charging to 100% with the ice cooling setup took a little over an hour, less than half the time it took without cooling and much closer to the advertised charging times.
This looks perfectly fine but of course I'm not gonna make an ice bath for the watch every time I need to charge it. :P
- Reddit user d4niel_p
The user points out, however, the impracticality of having to ice-cool the charger every time they need to top up their Galaxy Watch 9.
The charging times are close to what Samsung advertises but note the desktop fan in the background. | Images by Reddit
People are starting to make fun of the situation, giving advice to put the charger on ice, but for Galaxy Watch 9 owners, charging for 2-4 hours every day is far from ideal. Furthermore, users lament the lack of backward compatibility between the series. On the Samsung community forum, one users started a thread about their Galaxy Watch 8 charger not working with the Galaxy Watch 9.
Is anyone else having issues with their galaxy watch 8 charger not working with the watch 9? It says they are compatible with one another so I am trying to figure out why it won't work. I like to have 2. One for home and one in my purse.
- user musicsmylife29, Samsung Community forum
The original poster commented that charging was still slow even with the original charger that came with the Galaxy Watch 9, so they're most likely affected by the same charging bug.
We've reached out to Samsung for additional info about the issue and will get back to you with news soon. Let's hope a firmware update will solve this annoying charging bug.
Read more about the Galaxy Watch 9 and Galaxy Watch Ultra 2 here:
Mint Mobile is now allowing you to get whichever plan you like for either three, six, or 12 months for just $15/mo. If you go for the six-month unlimited service, for instance, you'll now have to pay just $90 upfront instead of $210.
Mariyan, a tech enthusiast with a background in Nuclear Physics and Journalism, brings a unique perspective to PhoneArena. His childhood curiosity for gadgets evolved into a professional passion for technology, leading him to the role of Editor-in-Chief at PCWorld Bulgaria before joining PhoneArena. Mariyan's interests range from mainstream Android and iPhone debates to fringe technologies like graphene batteries and nanotechnology. Off-duty, he enjoys playing his electric guitar, practicing Japanese, and revisiting his love for video games and Haruki Murakami's works.
A discussion is a place, where people can voice their opinion, no matter if it
is positive, neutral or negative. However, when posting, one must stay true to the topic, and not just share some
random thoughts, which are not directly related to the matter.
Things that are NOT allowed:
Off-topic talk - you must stick to the subject of discussion
Offensive, hate speech - if you want to say something, say it politely
Spam/Advertisements - these posts are deleted
Multiple accounts - one person can have only one account
Impersonations and offensive nicknames - these accounts get banned
To help keep our community safe and free from spam, we apply temporary limits to newly created accounts:
New accounts created within the last 24 hours may experience restrictions on how frequently they can
post or comment.
These limits are in place as a precaution and will automatically lift.
Moderation is done by humans. We try to be as objective as possible and moderate with zero bias. If you think a
post should be moderated - please, report it.
Have a question about the rules or why you have been moderated/limited/banned? Please,
contact us.
Things that are NOT allowed:
To help keep our community safe and free from spam, we apply temporary limits to newly created accounts: