Vertical Divider
Recharging a Smartphone in 15 minutes
July 19, 2020
While Samsung, Huawei and Motorola pursue foldable smartphones OPPO and vivo are into fastest charging technologies. They will be introducing a 120W Super FlashCharge that’s ready for the public next month.
Figure 1: 120W Super FlashCharge
July 19, 2020
While Samsung, Huawei and Motorola pursue foldable smartphones OPPO and vivo are into fastest charging technologies. They will be introducing a 120W Super FlashCharge that’s ready for the public next month.
Figure 1: 120W Super FlashCharge
Xiaomi previously tried but withdrew when its 100Wcharger overheated.
Vivo sub, iQOO explained some of the non-proprietary technology that makes it work. It involves dialing down the voltage while increasing the amp as well as splitting the current between two charging circuits and two battery cells. It’s not unlike what OPPO already uses for its 65W charging, just with more power involved.
The result is that the 120W Super FlashCharge system can juice up a battery from zero to full in 15 minutes. Exactly the time that iQOO allotted for its press conference. It also contrasted it with another phone charging at 55W and barely reaching 50% within that same time frame. But there are times when topping up fast could be handy. And that’s the idea behind OPPO’s new 125W Flash Charge spec being unveiled today.
Vivo sub, iQOO explained some of the non-proprietary technology that makes it work. It involves dialing down the voltage while increasing the amp as well as splitting the current between two charging circuits and two battery cells. It’s not unlike what OPPO already uses for its 65W charging, just with more power involved.
The result is that the 120W Super FlashCharge system can juice up a battery from zero to full in 15 minutes. Exactly the time that iQOO allotted for its press conference. It also contrasted it with another phone charging at 55W and barely reaching 50% within that same time frame. But there are times when topping up fast could be handy. And that’s the idea behind OPPO’s new 125W Flash Charge spec being unveiled today.
- What it means, according to OPPO, is just five minutes of plugged-in charging will provide 41% capacity, reaching 100% charge in 20 minutes (for a 4,000mAh battery).
- Meanwhile, other manufacturers like Apple haven’t yet gone beyond more standard fast charging: a new iPhone can hit 50 percent battery in around 30 minutes.
- 125W charging is impressive, no doubt about it., but there are good reasons to be skeptical. It won’t just take a beefier power adaptor and charge batteries faster without side-effects, or everyone would be doing it.
- In a lithium-ion battery, care must be taken to avoid excess heat, which can hurt both longer-term capacity and performance.
- An older battery-powered device might still work ok, but could have a shorter lifespan, as early as after 12-18 months of use, as the battery chemically ages. Ask Apple! More companies have data on battery charge cycles: if a device has many hundreds of charge cycles, the capacity of the battery will be reduced. Most devices will fall to 90% capacity after 18-24 months, in a normal lifespan
- OPPO’s engineers says it’s achieved 125W charging while keeping the phone’s battery under 40°C, which will help offset some battery degradation. Generally, keeping your smartphone charging under 35°C has been a rule of thumb. OPPO is moving forward with new battery chemistry. While the dual-cell structure remains, the battery C-rating has doubled from 3C to 6C. The C-rating is essentially how much continuous current a battery can withstand and a general indicator of quality and resistance to overheating at high charge rates, the higher the C rating the greater the cost.
- “OPPO’s 125W solution pushes a whopping 12.5A of current into these batteries at its peak, requiring higher quality batteries. Faster charging is also supplied by three charging pumps, boasting up to 98% efficiency, and a six-way multiple-tab battery setup.” Apple and others are more conservative. Apple’s own battery site explains why it transitioned to trickle charging beyond 80% battery life: “Your Apple lithium-ion battery uses fast charging to quickly reach 80% of its capacity, then switches to slower trickle charging.” OPPO hasn’t announced a phone with this technology, nor how much it all costs. From: Android Authority
Contact Us
|
Barry Young
|