Airplane Mode While Charging: An Effective Trick or Just a Myth?
As the capacity of modern smartphone batteries increases, sometimes exceeding 4000 and 5000 mAh, charging time has become one of the most important factors that users pay attention to, and a powerful marketing tool for companies.
Despite advancements in fast charging technologies, many are still looking for simple ways to shorten charging time, including activating airplane mode while charging.
* The Idea Makes Sense... But Does It Work?
When airplane mode is activated, cellular networks, Wi-Fi, and Bluetooth are disabled, which reduces power consumption during charging and is supposed to speed up the battery's reach to 100%, according to a report from SlashGear.
* Practical Experiment Proves the Difference is Limited
Practical tests were conducted using a Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra;
The battery was fully drained, then the phone was charged to 100%, with precise timing measured in normal mode and airplane mode, using a Nothing CMF Power charger with 65 watts, in similar temperature conditions.
Result:
• Fastest charging from 0 to 100% in airplane mode: 1 hour and 2 minutes.
• Fastest charging with all networks activated: 1 hour and 9 minutes.
The difference was only 6 minutes, which aligns with previous results from CNET that indicated a difference ranging between 4 and 11 minutes.
* Is It Worth the Effort?
While airplane mode provides a slight advantage, the overall average difference does not exceed 5 minutes.
And since airplane mode prevents receiving calls and messages during charging, it becomes more of a trick with no real practical impact for most users.
* Heat... The Biggest Enemy of Fast Charging
The experiment showed that ambient temperature plays a bigger role than airplane mode itself:
_ In tests at high temperatures between 89 and 92 Fahrenheit, the phone sometimes took more than an hour and 20 minutes to charge even with airplane mode activated.
_ When returning to a moderate temperature environment, charging times improved significantly, confirming that heat can negate any slight benefit of airplane mode.
* Final Conclusion
• Activating airplane mode may reduce charging time by just a few minutes.
• The difference is often imperceptible in daily use.
• Heat, charger quality, and poor charging habits are more impactful factors.
• Sticking to a recommended charger from the manufacturer and appropriate charging conditions is the best solution.
If you're in a great hurry, airplane mode might help a little, but in regular daily use, it remains a secondary option with no real impact.
