The time it takes to charge your phone just dropped from hours to minutes thanks to Xiaomi’s new HyperCharge technology. In a video demonstration, a modified Xiaomi Mi 11 Pro phone is shown plugged in to its 200W wired charger next to a stopwatch. It then proceeds to fully charge the phone from empty in just eight minutes.
Then, to prove that the technology can also work with a wireless charger, it charged the same phone using a 120W wireless pad to 100% in 15 minutes. In case eight or 15 minutes is too long, it also broke down how long it takes to get to 10% (44 seconds for the wired and 1min for the wireless) and 50% (3mins wired, 7mins wireless).
Fast charge is something of an obsession for many Chinese phone companies. Both Xiaomi and Oppo have previously released fast charging systems to bring down the time taken to fill those batteries. The idea seems to be that when you forget to charge your phone overnight, a quick charge will save you from getting a dead battery during the day.
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Most of the time our phones do sit on chargers overnight, but I’ve certainly had mornings where I’ve forgotten – or the wireless charger has failed on me. Knowing that in the time it takes to have a shower or a cup of coffee, the phone can get a full charge would certainly be helpful.
It also, ultimately, means that manufacturers don’t need to offer more than a day’s worth of charge in their phone batteries, as it’s so fast to top them up. This would allow batteries to eventually get smaller, and phones lighter.
This technology is of course only in prototype right now and there’s no guarantee it will make it into a new phone anytime soon. What’s worth noting though is how much more powerful these chargers are compared to your normal wired and wireless chargers. Apple’s new fast charger is a 20W device, while its Magsafe uses a 15W wireless charge. The Xiaomi HyperCharge is using nearly 10x these power values for its charging.
To achieve this will require special chargers, and ones plugged into the wall – a USB port or 12V car adapter won’t cut it. So, unless you take these chargers with you, the fast charge will only be available at home. Even so, I’d take the fast charge over a scramble at 8am to find a battery pack, any day.
