Last year’s Pixel launch seemed to promise a significant boost to the charging speeds of Google’s phones, boasting a 30W charger requirement compared to the sluggish 18W from previous years. Some sleuthing revealed that the company wasn’t being entirely honest in its representation, with the Pixel 6 capped at 21W and the 6 Pro handing in 23W of peak power. Fine, but hardly the competitive power levels that the marketing materials initially promised.

Back to the present day, the charging messaging for the Pixel 7 series is unchanged. Google recommends picking up its 30W charger for the new phones, which you still have to buy separately as the brand no longer includes a charger in the box. However, its fine print notes that real charging power requirements remain at 21W and 23W for the Pixel 7 and 7 Pro, respectively. Once again, the 30W plug requirement is seemingly overkill, and lower power alternatives will achieve the same results.