SINGAPORE - Charging speeds for mobile phones have hit a new milestone: A phone can be juiced from zero to 100 per cent in 25 minutes.places their charging speeds well ahead of the offerings of big boys such as Samsung, Google and Apple.
Comparatively, the latest flagship models like the Samsung Galaxy S23 series, the Google Pixel 7 and Apple’s iPhone 14 generally use 20W to 45W chargers and can take more than an hour to achieve the same full charge. For instance, the standard power brick for iPhones charges at 20W will fill up the device in around 1.5 hours.
Oppo said its breakthrough comes from software upgrades in its latest in-house SuperVOOC chipset that protects the battery from the high influx of electrical current. Similar to Oppo, it’s latest fast-charging phones use a dual battery system, with each battery receiving half the wattage from the 100W charger to fast-charge safely, said a spokesman for OnePlus.
The capacity of lithium-ion batteries is reduced - what is known as battery fade - when a battery is overcharged, causing it to heat up, said Dr Chiam Sing Yang, deputy executive director of A*Star’s Institute of Materials Research and Engineering. This problem can be overcome by battery management software. In the case of Oppo, its software is able to track in real time the activity of the bottom lithium ions inside the battery to adjust the charging current to minimise the risk of dead lithiums, prolonging its battery’s lifespan, said Mr Lin from Oppo.