Samsung's own S26 Ultra cases can't reliably deliver the 25W wireless charging it advertises, claims dbrand

It seems like something interesting is going on with the Galaxy S26 Ultra and its 25W wireless charging capabilities, specifically when a case is slapped on. According to dbrand, even the official first-party magnet cases from Samsung itself are not able to reliably reach the 25W wireless speeds that the company advertises for the phone.

In a Reddit thread that has been picking up a lot of attention over the past day or so, dbrand explained that they put four of the official Samsung cases through some testing. They used them along with Samsung’s 74.99 dollar Magnet Wireless Charger and a 45W travel adapter.

From what they reported, not a single one of those cases managed to hit the full 25W. Instead, they said 15W turned out to be the only speed they could count on getting consistently. That does not look very good at all, especially considering the charger is being sold as a Qi2 accessory that is supposed to be capable of 25W super-fast wireless charging, at least when you look at the official specifications on paper.

dbrand pointed out that their magnets are already lined up in the right position for compatibility with MagSafe and Qi2 products. Even so, they have not yet managed to figure out the proprietary handshake that Samsung requires in order to consistently unlock 25W charging on their newer setup.

Samsung’s own cases state that the built-in magnets are designed to help align the Galaxy S26 Ultra properly for fast wireless charging. If dbrand turns out to be correct here, then the problem is not simply a matter of whether a case has magnets installed or not. It looks like Samsung’s particular implementation might be leaving other accessory makers trying to guess at that final step that is needed to achieve full-speed charging.

From what I could deduce after reading other posts and comments about wireless charging support on the S26 Ultra, it seems like the experience is mixed.

Some users are saying that official Samsung cases or third-party options from companies like Spigen and others can successfully trigger the super-fast wireless charging on certain Qi2 chargers. At the same time, other people are reporting that Samsung’s own charger puck tends to run hot, drops down to 15W speeds, or just behaves in an inconsistent manner overall.

One individual even shared a video with us on X showing the phone detecting that a “Super fast wireless charger is connected” when they had Samsung’s official magnetic case on.

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— Guntas Singh (@guntassingh) March 18, 2026

dbrand leaned into that confusion pretty directly in their email reply to the OP. The company argued that 25W charging continues to be inconsistent for users who are operating outside of Samsung’s closed ecosystem. They also brought up reports that their own Tank and Grip cases have managed to reach 25W for some individuals. However, they do not seem willing to promise that kind of performance across the board for everyone.

All of this adds to the growing list of headaches for early S26 Ultra owners, from what seems to be an imperfect launch overall. For instance, some buyers have apparently been so unhappy with the phone’s screen quality and the much-hyped Privacy Display feature that they tried to return it, only for Samsung to offer partial refunds in an effort to keep them from sending the devices back.

So let’s hope Samsung manages to sort things out once and for all by being more open, honest, and transparent. But it’s still worth noting that these apparent tests from dbrand should be taken with a grain of salt since the company hasn’t yet posted any concrete evidence of the wireless charging test results they mentioned.

Note: The article has been updated with a video shared with us on X (h/t @guntassingh)

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