Qualcomm's Quick Charge 5 Will Juice Your Phone From 0 To 50% In Just 5 Minutes
We all have better things to do than wait for our smartphones and other mobile devices to recharge. This is what makes fast charging technology so delightful, and in that vein, Qualcomm on Monday announced its Quick Charge 5 tech for Android devices, which is capable of taking a depleted device with a 4,500 mAh battery and juicing it to 50 percent in only five minutes.
In the process, Qualcomm has earned itself some bragging rights here. For one, going from 0 to 50 percent battery power in just five minutes qualifies as the fastest commercial charging technology available for Android devices. This is also the first commercially viable fast charging platform to support more than 100W charging power in a smartphone.
"Quick Charge 5, our fastest and most versatile charging solution, will enable consumers to
enjoy their devices for longer periods of time, without worrying about the time required to
recharge. We are proud to expand our technology portfolio and make accessible 100W+ charging
a commercial reality," said Ev Roach, VP Product Management, Qualcomm Technologies, Inc. "We work closely with manufacturers to create industry-leading devices that meet consumers’
demand for more immersive and accessible mobile experiences."
Compared to Quick Charge 4, this latest iteration is 70 percent more efficient, and is able to charge up to four times faster (in addition to taking a 4,500 mAh battery from dead to half charged in five minutes, it can fully charge the battery in around 15 minutes). And compared to the first generation of Quick Charge technology, Quick Charge 5 boasts a 10 times increase in power delivery. It also supports 2S batteries and 20V of power delivery, Qualcomm says.
The obvious concern with these kinds of rapid charging improvements are heat and overall safety. To that end, Qualcomm said Quick Charge 5 incorporates a dozen separate voltage, current, and temperature protections, including USB-input overvoltage protection at 25V and external power controls beyond 30V.
Remarkably, Qualcomm also claims it designed Quick Charge 5 to run 10C cooler than Quick Charge 4, despite being able to charge devices so much faster.
How was Qualcomm able to make such a giant stride? A big part of Quick Charge 5 comes down to using a pair of batteries, instead of one. Traditional smartphones use a single lithium-ion battery at around 4.5V. Quick Charge 5, however, calls for using a pair of smaller batteries in a series, at twice the voltage.
As for compatibility, Quick Charge 5 works with devices supporting all previous Quick Charge standards, just not with the same enhanced speed. Quick Charge 5 supports USB Power Delivery (USB-PD), including iPhone 7 and newer handsets, and USB-C.
Qualcomm says Quick Charge 5 is currently sampling, with shipping devices fully supporting the standard expected to arrive this quarter.
