Xiaomi 200W HyperCharge Tech Takes Your Phone Battery From Empty To 100% In 8 Minutes
It seems our smartphone batteries are always running out of juice before we want them to, and quite frankly, that might always be the case until a true battery breakthrough materializes and is adopted at mass scale. In the meantime, fast charging is our ticket to minimal downtime. And remarkably, Xiaomi has demonstrated a smartphone going from 0 percent to a full charge in just 8 minutes.
Over the weekend, Xiaomi had teased on Twitter that it was going to set a new record of some kind, but stopped short of saying exactly what. It did offer up a hint, though, with a #XiaomiHyperCharge hashtag. This led to speculation that it would be related to reports earlier in the year suggesting Xiaomi was working on a 200W charger. Turns out that was indeed the case.
Here is the demo in action...
The demonstration centers around a custom built M 11 Pro smartphone with a 4,000 mAh capacity battery that is completely depleted (the M 11 we reviewed sports a 4,600 mAh battery). We see it getting hooked up a 200W wired charger, and than the timer starts. At around 3 minutes and 23 seconds, it reaches a 50 percent charge in the video. Then at around 7 minutes and 57 seconds, it hits 100 percent.
That is nothing short of impressive. It also builds on the 120W charging solution that Xiaomi introduced with its Mi 10 Ultra last year. That phone wields a more capacious 4,500 mAh battery, and with the 120W charger connected to it, can go from empty to 100 percent in 23 minutes.
That is incredibly fast, though it feels like a snail's pace next to the custom M 11 Pro and Xiaomi's latest 200W HyperCharge technology.
The same video also highlights a 120W wireless charger, again with the custom M 11 Pro. Using the wireless charger, it takes around 1 minute and 14 seconds to reach a 10 percent charge, and 6 minutes and 58 seconds to reach a 50 percent charge. It achieves a full charge at just a second or two past 15 minutes.
Is faster charging technology really the answer though, and does it come at the expense of increase battery degradation? I don't fancy myself a battery expert, but a quick Google search indicates that if done properly (on the technology side), any additional degradation to the battery from faster charging techniques is negligible.
It's not clear to me if a 200W charging solution changes the landscape in that regard. I suppose we'll find out when Xiaomi begins shipping its new fast charging solution, so we see what kind of real world effect it has over time. That said, the company did not say when it will be available.
