Your Switch’s battery is getting low while you’re playing on the go and in a great spot. However, you do have a phone charger with you and are not far from your official Switch charger. Can you use a phone charger to recharge your Nintendo Switch?
In a nutshell, yes, you can use any USB-C phone charger to charge your Nintendo Switch. However, using a phone charger has drawbacks like slow charging and dock incompatibility. To learn more about charging the Nintendo Switch, please read this article.
Can You Charge A Switch With A Phone Charger?
As long as you have a USB-C cable, you can charge your Nintendo Switch with your phone charger. The official Switch charger is more potent, but this will still charge your battery. When you play games, you might notice your battery slowly draining.
The Switch Charging Capabilities
The USB-C PD standard at 15 V/ 2.6 A, or approximately 39 W, is the primary charging protocol for the Nintendo Switch. You should be aware, though, that the Switch is a remarkably adaptable device and that it can support standard USB charging at 5 V to 3 A.
There is a small trade-off, despite the fact that you can charge with your regular phone charger. Simply put, you will receive a maximum charging rate of less than 13 W or roughly one-third of the maximum possible rate.
Since the Switch typically uses between 5 and 10 W just to play, this is obviously much slower than the USB-C PD standard.
You should also be aware that the QuickCharge 2.0 or 3.0 ports found in almost all modern smartphones are incompatible with the USB-C PD standard. You are therefore greatly mistaken if you believe that you can charge your Switch in less than an hour.
The most recent QuickCharge 4.0 models, however, are compatible with the PD standard built into the Switch, but they haven’t been widely released yet, so it will be difficult to find one on the market.
You might be better off purchasing a replacement charger because even if you do, it will be quite expensive.
Even if you manage to obtain a genuine QC 4.0 charger, you should be aware that it will only be able to supply 20 W or about half the maximum that the Switch is intended to support.
Nintendo has taken care to make sure that its console stays ahead of its time, and in order to do that, the company has developed a very sophisticated console with the newest technologies.
Now, you can use a phone charger if you don’t mind your device charging slowly, such as when you want to leave it charging overnight. The Switch should be turned off before being charged.
You should, however, always double-check the cable and the adapter for the best outcomes. Prior to starting the device’s charging process, make sure both of these are in excellent condition.
How To Charge A Switch With A Phone Charger?
Choosing The Right Cable
When choosing a cable to charge your phone, there are many options available. For instance, USB-C cables are used by modern Android devices, while Lightning cables are used by iPhones and older models of Android.
Additionally, you can use the USB-C port on the Nintendo Switch cable itself. Make sure you have a USB-C cable. Your Switch won’t work with any other port.
Many phone chargers also support QuickCharge. Actually, there isn’t much of a difference between Switch charging with QuickCharge 2.0 and 3.0. Although QuickCharge 4.0 is a little quicker, it only offers the Switch half the normal charge.
Other Cables
Only USB-C cables can be used to connect to the Switch because it has a USB-C port on the bottom. However, there are a few workarounds for this. It’s not the most practical choice because it calls for special cables or adapters.
Heads on USB cables vary widely. For instance, one end might have a regular USB port and the other USB-C. It can connect to your Switch as long as one end is USB-C and the other can connect to the charger.
In order to connect your Switch to a Lightning, micro-USB, or other cables, you will need an adapter. One cable end should be connected to the adapter. The Switch should then be charged by plugging in the USB-C adapter head.
Although not ideal, this will suffice in an emergency.
Charging Power
The Nintendo Switch is made to charge at a rate of approximately 39W. This is what the official Switch charger produces, and it’s sufficient to recharge the battery even while you’re playing demanding games. Additionally, it guarantees that the console charges quickly.
The biggest problem with charging your Switch with a phone is that it doesn’t output enough power. When you aren’t playing games, the battery slowly charges, but when you are playing games, the battery might run out.
Around 5 to 10W are produced by a typical phone charger. Even if you have QuickCharge 4.0, you’re only getting around 20W of power
The Switch still charges slowly, despite the fact that this is an improvement. However, Nintendo made their console compatible with these chargers, as if they had foreseen people doing so. Even though it’s far from perfect, there shouldn’t be any major problems.
Connecting The Charger
The Switch is incredibly easy to use with a phone charger. This is just as simple to do as charging any other device or your phone. Don’t forget to plug in your phone charger.
The phone charger is next plugged into the charging cable. Your Switch has a USB-C port on the bottom. The other cable end should be inserted into this port.
If you’re not sure whether the Switch is charging or not, turn it on and check the battery indicator in the upper-right corner of the screen. A lightning bolt should be visible through the icon. This indicates that the Switch is charging.
Read More:
Can You Charge A Nintendo Switch With An iPhone Charger?
iPhones use a proprietary charger unique to them and You cannot recharge your console’s battery using an Apple product’s charger.
However, in an emergency, you can plug USB-C chargers into Apple laptops to provide your Switch with power. If there isn’t an outlet available while you’re out and about, this might be useful.
Additionally, the Apple MacBook currently charges through a USB-C port. Therefore, if you own a MacBook, you could use that charger for your Switch! Just keep in mind that it won’t perform as well as your Switch’s dock or AC Adapter.
Can You Charge A Nintendo Switch With A Samsung Charger?
Almost all of the newest Samsung phone models use some kind of USB-C charging. This indicates that you can generally use your Samsung chargers with your Switch.
But there’s a catch: Older Samsung models typically charged their batteries using micro USB 2.0 rather than USB-C.
Regrettably, Switch doesn’t support micro USB 2.0 charging by default. Therefore, those extra chargers you have lying around might not be all that useful.
Can You Charge A Nintendo Switch With A Macbook Charger?
The USB-C port that the Nintendo Switch uses for charging is the same port that the new MacBooks use. Consequently, you can charge the switch if you first charge a MacBook with a power adapter and then connect the two devices using a USB-C to USB-C cable.
A Quartz journalist was the first to tweet about this, and Polygon has since confirmed it. They mentioned that a Nintendo Switch that is off will charge when connected to a MacBook or MacBook Pro!
