Chinese mobile maker Xiaomi has demoed its latest fast charging tech, dubbed HyperCharge. With purported wired speeds of 200W, Xiaomi claims it can fully replenish a 4,000mAh battery in eight minutes.
HyperCharge, the company also claimed, could deliver a 50 per cent charge in three minutes. To preserve battery health, charging speeds typically decelerate as a device reaches full capacity.
The fast-charging tech is said to support wireless speeds of up to 120W, the company claimed, which can fully recharge a 4,000 battery in fifteen minutes.
Xiaomi has not confirmed whether HyperCharge will eventually make its way into a production device.
The technology was demoed on a modified version of the Xiaomi Mi 11 Pro handset, which typically comes with 67W wired and wireless charging, and 10W reverse charging.
The company's fastest charging on a production device can be found on the Mi 10 Ultra, which supports 120W wired charging.
Vendors swimming in the choppy waters of the Android space often struggle to differentiate their devices from those made by their competitors.
Phones are, effectively, bundles of components made by a handful of downstream vendors. It doesn't matter whether you buy a Xiaomi or a Realme, what you're getting is a chipset from Qualcomm, a camera module from Sony or Samsung, RAM from SK Hynix, and so on.
There are very few avenues of differentiation available to manufacturers. Software is one. Charging is another. Over the past few years, we've seen a lot of competition in this space, with Xiaomi, OPPO and OnePlus trying to best each other.
In the case of OPPO, it's also started licensing its own VOOC fast "flash" charging IP to other tech companies, most notably Anker, which has said it will use the tech across its line-up.
Nonetheless, there are some major problems with fast charging. It has a tendency to increase the wear and tear on the battery, shortening longevity.
It's for that reason why some vendors – including Apple – opt for slower charging speeds when the device is plugged in at night. Others, such as ASUS, also offer the option to manually reduce charging speed.
By: Matthew Hughes (The Register).
Image: What Mobile, Pakistan.
Review: FM.