I like Google's new 45W charger, but I shouldn't need it to properly charge the Pixel 9 Pro XL

Quirky charging requirements are nothing new. Whether it’s OnePlus and OPPO using SuperVOOC to charge their devices — and only their devices — at blistering speeds or Apple sticking with its proprietary Lightning port until it was essentially forced to switch to USB-C, it seems like everyone has a trick up their sleeve. Google and Samsung do, too, though we’re used to reaching for a USB PD PPS charger when we test a Galaxy device or a Pixel at this point. Or, at least, I thought we were.

Then, Google launched its Pixel 9 Pro XL, boasting up to 37W speeds from its brand-new 45W USB-C power charger. At first, I didn’t think much of it — Google has touted its in-house charging speeds before, but we’ve always been able to match them from chargers we already had. This time, though, no dice. No matter which USB PD PPS charger I tried, they all topped out at 27W when paired with Google’s top-end Pixel. So, I bit the bullet, picked up the shiny new charger, and here we are.

It’s cute, but is it practical?

If nothing else, I like how Google’s 45W USB-C power charger looks. I mean, that’s not a surprise — I already have an apartment full of Google-designed smart home products, so why wouldn’t a charger fit right in? After all, Google already uses white, bubble-like chargers at the end of its Nest Mini and Nest Hub Max cables, so adding another one to the mix makes my setup look a little more in sync.

It probably helps that I like Google’s other designs, too. I still carry the Pixel Buds Pro (in a white, round case) on the road, and I’ve been on board with the updated Pixel design since day one. Mix in the fact that Google’s chosen size and shape for its 45W power charger stands out from my collection of black, rectangular chargers, and it’s easy to see how this one’s a winner. The unique shape has another benefit, too: I always know which charger to grab when my Pixel 9 Pro XL is running low on juice. After all, that’s the only phone that needs this charger to reach its peak wired charging speed.

And yet, for everything I like about Google’s simple, cutesy design, other parts drive me up a wall. It’s just a bit too tall for my outlets, meaning I have to use it in the bottom socket or flip it upside down to use it in the top. At least when I do the latter at an outlet shared with my Nest Mini, the two chargers look like an exclamation mark, which is fun.

The charger also sticks out just a bit too far for my liking, measuring about two inches long despite only having one tiny USB-C port on the bottom edge. Granted, it would be worse if the port sat on the side, forcing your cable to stick even further out, but the charger itself is already large enough. Maybe if Google added a second port — even if it meant splitting the total charging power — I’d be a little more open to the size. Oh, and the prongs don’t fold, you just have to lug the charger around and keep it safe from anything it might scratch in your backpack.

I do have to give Google props for using at least 47% recycled plastic in its polycarbonate housing and ditching plastic from its packaging — it’s a nice touch, considering I had to buy another plastic charger.

Call it a high-speed chase

Of course, how a charger performs is far more important than how it looks. After all, that’s what made me grab a brand-new charger for one specific phone in the first place. On that front, at least, the 45W USB-C power charger does its job and does it well. After struggling with my Pixel 9 Pro XL and several higher-speed USB PD PPS chargers, I plugged it into this in-house option, and it shot right to the 37W speeds I was looking for.

Before I can convey that sense of relief, I should probably explain a few of the swings and misses I had while trying to charge my Pixel 9 Pro XL. First, I grabbed a 68W Motorola TurboPower charger — which I’ve used on just about every device, including the Pixel 8 Pro, without issue — and found that it wouldn’t budge from 9V/3A charging, giving me an output of 27W. It immediately struck me as odd since I knew the same charger would fill Samsung’s Galaxy S24 Ultra at its full 45W (9v/5A) rate, so it stands to reason it should handle a lower 37W speed, right? Wrong.

Then, I switched to an even more powerful charger, a 100W Baseus brick that, due to its size and weight, is mainly used to prop up phones for glamour shots. This time, I figured, it would have to reach full speed. I was wrong once again. Despite its higher capacity, the Baseus charger sat at the same 9V/3A rating I had just given up on, operating at just three-quarters of its potential. Double-checking another USB-C cable with a 5A amperage rating didn’t help, either — it was 3A or the highway.

At this point, I raised the alarm bell to my colleague Rob Triggs, pointing out just how confused I was that I couldn’t charge my Pixel 9 Pro XL at top speeds. We settled on the fact that I’d need Google’s fancy 45W power charger, figuring there must be something it could do that other chargers weren’t, and the rest is history. After all that, the new charger saved me two minutes off the time spent charging the Pixel 8 Pro, as seen below. However, it is faster for a quick top-up.

There’s more to charging a phone than raw speed, as Rob digs into as part of our breakdown of Google’s confusing charging setup. But, as it turns out, that secret power was the 45W charger’s willingness to push 18 volts (rather than 9-11V) into the Pixel 9 Pro XL, giving it the speed I had waited almost a week for. Perhaps that’s the best thing I could have asked from Google’s new in-house accessory — it did what I needed. I guess that’s all you need from a charger, but it doesn’t sit very well when you have to spend $30 on a new charger on top of an already $1,100 phone.

On the bright side, even though you need Google’s 45W power charger (or one of very few others) to fill the Pixel 9 Pro XL at top speeds, now that you have it, you can also use it for the rest of your devices. After all, it’s still a 45W USB PD PPS-enabled charger, so it can jump right in and help your friends, whether they have Pixels, Samsung Galaxy devices, or Motorola’s Razr Plus or Edge Plus. Just don’t expect much out of it if you have a OnePlus 12 or another phone with proprietary charging.

With my charging headache sorted, I think I owe Google at least a little thanks for clearly indicating what charging standards the 45W power charger supports and the specific voltage and amperage for each one. While looking for other alternatives to this charger, I asked multiple colleagues for advice, which mostly left us looking at the same few chargers and trying to figure out the differences. At least with this one, I knew it was ready for USB PD 3.1 PPS right off the bat — take notes, everyone else.

Google 45W Power Charger review verdict: It’s not the charger’s fault Google is making USB-C worse

I have to admit, I’ve never felt this strongly about a charger before. I mean, I don’t think I’ve ever felt anything about a charger before. Sure, I have my favorites — I carried around that 68W TurboPower charger for more than a year, trusting it with everything from my camera to my laptop to whatever phone I was testing — but it didn’t crush me to leave home without it for a weekend. I always knew I’d find another charger and probably reach most of the speeds I wanted.

With Google’s 45W power charger, though, I would probably kick myself just a little bit if I left it behind. Not because it completely revolutionizes charging your phone (it doesn’t) but because Google decided to give its best Pixel ever such specific charging requirements that make it almost impossible to surpass 30W otherwise. And honestly, I don’t love that feeling. I don’t like double-checking my backpack for one specific charger, no matter how much I like that phone. Whether it’s OnePlus, Samsung, or now, Google, it feels like an extra hoop to jump through. And yet, I know that I shouldn’t take my frustration out on the charger, or at least I should think about a wireless charger instead.

After all, Google’s 45W power charger does pretty much everything I need it to. It looks good, delivers solid speeds to more than just the Pixel 9 Pro XL, and tells you what charging standards it supports before you buy it. Yes, it sticks out a little too far from the wall, and yes, I might have preferred folding prongs, but at the end of the day, it’s a charger. It gets my phone back to 100% without issue, and that should be enough.

In another world, it probably would be. I probably couldn’t be happier with such a simple, straightforward option, especially when other chargers that hit the voltage requirements for the Pixel 9 Pro XL are typically double the price. In this world, though, it feels like another reminder that we’ll probably never have one convenient charging solution that works across every device. At least not if it means Google, Samsung, or anyone else can squeeze a few more dollars out of me.