Can Your Laptop's USB-C Charger Juice Up Your Phone?
Mon Dec 22 2025
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USB-C chargers are now everywhere, from smartphones to laptops. This change has made some phone makers skip including chargers in new phone boxes. But laptops still usually come with their own chargers, often USB-C ones, like MacBooks, Chromebooks, and many Windows laptops. So, if your laptop came with a USB-C charger, can you use it to charge your phone too?
The answer is yes, especially for phones made in the last few years. But how does this work? What charging speeds can you expect? Will your phone's fast charging feature work? And is it safe to use your laptop's powerful charger on your phone every day?
Charging your phone with your laptop's USB-C charger is generally fine. The process is straightforward if both devices support USB-PD, which stands for USB power delivery. This standard, created by the USB Implementers Forum, lets the charger and phone figure out the best charging power. The charger then starts charging the phone at the highest safe power level.
You can use this setup daily. USB-PD makes it easy to charge any USB-PD-capable device, like phones, tablets, or gaming consoles, with any USB-PD charger. So, your phone can be charged by any USB-PD charger, whether it came with another phone, a laptop, or a gaming console.
As USB-C becomes more common, more devices support USB-PD. For example, recent iPhones, MacBooks, iPads, Google Pixel phones, Samsung Galaxy devices, and almost all Chromebooks support it. Many Windows laptops and Android smartphones also support USB-PD. However, things get a bit tricky if one or both devices don't support USB-PD.
It's still safe to charge your phone with a USB-C laptop charger if one or both devices don't support USB-PD, as long as they follow basic USB-C specs. If the charger supports USB-PD but the phone doesn't, the charger will default to a safe lower power mode, supplying only 5V. The current can be 1. 5A or 3A, resulting in charging speeds of up to 7. 5W or 15W. The USB-PD standard's safety features ensure that a higher voltage is never applied unless the phone asks for it.
If the laptop charger doesn't support USB-PD, it will usually default to 5V. The phone will detect the current via the resistor configuration of the Configuration Channel (CC) pins on the charger. The maximum supplied current is 3A, resulting in a charging rate of up to 15W. So, if neither the laptop charger nor the phone supports USB-PD, you probably won't get fast charging or faster than 15W.
If you're unsure whether the charger or phone is compliant with USB-C specifications, it's best to avoid using the laptop charger to charge your phone to reduce risk. Finally, always use a high-quality USB-C cable to charge your phone, as the cable can also affect the charging process and speed.
