Imagine needing your smartphone immediately (like making that presentation that’s due tomorrow, or watching the latest episode of your favorite web drama), and having to stop in the middle, because your battery is draining away, and you need to connect to a charger ASAP. The long wait that ensues is one of the most annoying, isn’t it? Well, not anymore, if you’d like like believe Xiaomi’s claims.
The Chinese phone and gizmo maker has reportedly come up with a new wired fast charge technology, which it calls as HyperCharge. Said tech has a power of 200W, as per the company, and is capable of fully charging a 4,000mAh battery in less than 8 minutes, flat. That means almost all regular phones can be charged in a very short time with the charger.
Charge up to 100% in just 8 minutes using wired charging and 15 minutes wirelessly! #XiaomiHyperCharge
Too good to be true? Check out the timer yourself! #InnovationForEveryone pic.twitter.com/muBTPkRchl
— Xiaomi (@Xiaomi) May 31, 2021
Another impressive product that has been announced is a wireless fast charger, with a power of 120W. This one might seem like good news to people who would prefer to cut back on the hassles of wired systems. This system can charge a 4,000mAh system, but requires a little more time, at 15 minutes, tops (so slow).
The 120W fast charging technology was announced along with Xiaomi’s Mi 10 Ultra, which hit stores in 2020. The 200W HyperCharge is the the latest in line in the fast charging series, with the 80W wireless charger being launched last year. Another 100W model came into being two years ago, and could charge an Mi 10 Ultra (with a 4,500mAh battery) in 23 minutes.
If the claims are true, then this would give the company a great boost over contemporaries like Oppo and Realme, who each have put forth 123W fast charge technologies (namely, Flash Charge and UltraDART), respectively. These offer a charging time of around 20 minutes, which is significantly longer than that of HyperCharge.
Xiaomi revealed the two new products through a video, wherein an Mi 11 was used to demonstrate both the wired and wireless technologies. The 200W model was shown to charge the phone to 10% in barely 44 seconds, with 50% and 100% battery levels being reached in only 3 minutes and 8 minutes, respectively. As for the wireless model, a minute is enough for charging up to 10%, and full charge was obtained in under 15 minutes.
While it isn’t as yet clear which market-ready models will gain access to the technology first, it can be expected that the upcoming flagship models will be included in the bandwagon.
With fast charge systems quickly becoming a new battleground for mobile phone companies, one thing worth noting is that since they require proprietary chargers, they will, most likely, as of now, not be too helpful in situations when you need to frequently be on the move.
