Google recently made it clear that it may ban non-standard USB-C fast charging technologies like Qualcomm’s Quick Charge and even Samsung’s Adaptive Fast Charging, among others.
The decision to ban non-standard USB-C fast charging technologies is because they tend to alter the current that is delivered to a phone during charging, something that might be problematic in the long run. One such technology is Qualcomm’s Quick Charge, which at the moment is at version 3.0. The likes of Samsung Galaxy S7 and S7 Edge are equipped with version 2.0 whereas Samsung Galaxy Note 7 came with the latest version 3.0. All these are technologies associated with the Snapdragon 820 and 821.
Now, this coming year will see a new Snapdragon 835 come into life and according to the manufacturer, the processor will come with Quick Charge 4.0. Apparently, this latest fast charging technology will deliver 20% faster charging services than the current version 3.0. This means you get up to five hours of talk time when you charge your phone for just five minutes.
With the exploding Samsung Galaxy Note 7, some have claimed that a lot was to do with the battery and probably charging issues. Now that Qualcomm is planning to introduce an even faster proprietary technology, there were some pessimistic voices heard. Of course, Qualcomm had nothing to do with the Galaxy Note 7 issues since models carrying the Exynos 8890 were also affected. But to guarantee safety, the American chipset maker was quick to emphasize on its comprehensive Quick Charge 4.0 safety enhancements that offer multiple protection levels at all layers. In short, the OEM says that the new Snapdragon 835 will keep track of the battery unit, the cables, the ports as well as the entire system when fast charging the phone.
But which phones will be first to benefit from this technology?
In2016, Qualcomm has released two flagship chipsets – Snapdragon 820 and 821. The new Snapdragon 835, an obvious successor to the current versions, should be ready for next year’s flagships. These include early 2017 releases such as Samsung Galaxy S8, LG G6, OnePlus 4, Xiaomi Mi6, HTC 11 as well as later-in-the-year models such as Samsung Galaxy Note 8, Huawei Mate 10 or even the LG V30, among others.
Even though Qualcomm has confirmed the Snapdragon 835, the list of phones that will use the chipset is not yet confirmed. But we should know the details very soon as the CES 2017 closes in.