Samsung’sGalaxy S23 lineupis out, lead by the excellent but familiarSamsung Galaxy S23 Ultra. The new phones don’t only come with the latest and greatest hardware, but also with several new software capabilities. Among them is a feature straight from gaming phones that allows you to plug in your phone and have the chargerpower its processor directlywithout charging the battery. This improves gaming performance and your battery’s lifespan. Now, this feature is making it to even more Samsung devices.
As reported bySamMobile, the new Pause USB Power Delivery feature is slowly being rolled out to other Samsung phones. In particular, it’s now available on the Galaxy S22 series, as well as on devices like the Galaxy A73 5G and the Galaxy Z Fold 2, 3, and 4. It’s not rolling out through a system update — rather, you’ll be able to find it as an update to the existing Game Booster app.
Once you have the update, you’ll have to go into the Game Booster settings and manually turn on Pause USB Power Delivery. The feature needs a charge of at least 20% in order to work. Some users have also reported seeing it only work with Samsung’s official 45W charger. For what it’s worth, I tried it out on my Galaxy S22 Ultra with a Spigen 45W charger, and it works great.
Once turned on, you’ll be able to play games comfortably, with the peace of mind of knowing that you’re not degrading your battery more than necessary. Normally, playing games while charging your phone puts more stress on your hardware, as the device is heating up both because of a heavy CPU workload and the charging process, leading to processor throttling and battery degradation. The only downside to the battery bypass feature is that your battery won’t be charged during your gaming sessions — so if your phone needs a top-up, you’ll need to put away that game.
Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra
The Galaxy S23 Ultra packs it all in. And we do mean “all”: a 200MP camera, the ever-useful S Pen, and room for up to a terabyte of your files. And it’s as powerful as “all” get-out with the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 Mobile Platform for Galaxy from Qualcomm.
