Even faster charging tech will juice phones from 0 to 50% in 15 minutes
Image: raymond wong/mashable
Fact: Nobody likes waiting for their phone to charge up.
Which is why phones with Qualcomm's Quick Charge technology are so great because they can fast charge your phone in minutes.
To further widen its lead as the industry's No. 1 fast charging technology, Qualcomm has announced Quick Charge 4.0, an even faster charging technology that promises up to 20 percent faster overall charging and up to 30 percent higher power efficiency over its existing Quick Charge 3.0.
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Phones powered by Qualcomm's upcoming Snapdragon 835 mobile chip will be able to support Quick Charge 4.0 out of the box.
A 15-minute charge will fast charge from 0 to 50 percent battery life (a rate of 3.33 percent per minute) and a five-minute charge will provide up to five hours of battery life (based on a 2,750 mAh battery; Qualcomm didn't specify what percent a five-minute charge will yield).
In comparison, Quick Charge 3.0 only fast charges up to 80 percent in 35 minutes (a rate of 2.29 percent per minute) or up to 34 percent in 15 minutes.
On top of faster charging, Quick Charge 4.0 has improved temperature optimization, which allows devices to be charged at up to 5-degrees (Celsius) cooler than with Quick Charge 3.0.
In light of recent events around the Galaxy Note7, Qualcomm says consumers are more aware about charging safety than ever before.
To allay fears with pushing more power faster at higher voltages, the company's fortified Quick Charge 4 with further safety enhancements at the cable and connector level, including over-voltage, over-current and over-temperature protection on the power adapter side and three levels of current protection, three levels of voltage protection and four levels of temperature protection on the mobile device end.
And in order for Quick Charge 4 to initiate, a phone that supports it will need to perform a "handshake" with certified Quick Charge power adapters (which are tested and certified by UL).
Since its launch four years ago, Quick Charge has become the industry's leading fast charging technology. It's now supported by over 100 mobile devices and over 300 mobile accessories from over 150 companies.
In a perfect world, our phones would charge up instantly, but until they do, faster Quick Charging will have to do.
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Topics: charging, Gadgets, qualcomm, quick charge 4.0, smartphone, snapdragon 835, Tech, Culture