Could the cause of extremely slow charging lie in the motherboard?

[chocopanda]

I've had my note 4 since May 2015. No problems whatsoever but I did 1 battery change last year.

It started a week ago. It's charges about 10% every hour and it needs to be switched off to actually get the percentage up. Cables aren't the issue so it's the charging port that needs replacing because the "teeth" are messed up, right?

I visited the Samsung service center earlier and the guy said it'd cost 200+ to replace it and I was surprised at how cheap it would be! Then he talked about how the motherboard might be the problem and it'd cost 800+ to replace that. A whopping 1000+ if that was the case, I might as well get a new phone! But I'm calling bull**** on that, I just find it hard to believe that the motherboard would be the underlying cause of the slow charging since there's definitely an issue with the port?

TLDR: Phone charges very slow, cables aren't the problem so charging port needs replacing. Samsung service guy said the motherboard might be the issue instead. Is that true? Or is he trying to rip me off?

Oh. There's this general repair store that would charge 480 (roughly $107) to replace a note 4 charging port on the spot, right in front of you. Is that overpriced? :/

 

[B. Diddy]

Welcome to Android Central! It could also be the battery, even though you replaced it last year. Batteries can fail or be defective, even if they're from a reputable manufacturer. Does the battery get pretty warm when it's charging?

 

[natehoy]

I've had my phone for 2 years and have greatly reduced the life of three batteries so far. I will occasionally get the "slow charge" issue, though often I find that it is a charger or cable that just don't like each other or like my phone, and I cannot for the life of me figure out any reasonable criteria other than figuring out which cables like which chargers. And that changes occasionally for some bizarre reason. Sometimes certain apps draw a lot of power, even in the background, and don't allow the phone to charge properly.

I'd snag a new battery (OEM from a solid vendor or a good quality replacement like Anker) and a good quality QC 2.0 or 3.0 charger with cable from a reputable manufacturer (Aukey, for example, makes solid stuff that is pretty inexpensive).

If you can, pick up a battery (or pair) that comes with a charger. That way, if you can't actually fix the charging problem, you at least have a long-term workaround of having a fully-charged spare ready for a "full charge swap" any time.

As far as repairing the USB/charging port, should it come to that, $100 is probably a bit overpriced on average but easily justifiable for a local technician to maintain a local shop and pay people to be in their shop ready to do the repair immediately. You're paying a bit for convenience, but you get to see the tech do the work and you get your phone back in minutes rather than weeks. To me, that convenience would be well worth a premium (the part is, I believe, about $25 retail and the repair is rated "moderate" on iFixit - so a mail-away repair would probably be about $50-75 at a guess).

https://www.ifixit.com/Guide/Samsung+Galaxy+Note+4+Micro-USB+Port+Daughterboard+Replacement/35006

 

[RadeonHD4250]

I would also check the charging port as well.
I work in IT and noticed lots of times charging issues are causes by lint building in the port. Use a toothpick and get that stuff outta there.