{"id":56292,"date":"2020-07-29T17:35:00","date_gmt":"2020-07-29T17:35:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/icrowdnewswire.com\/?p=2680023"},"modified":"2020-07-29T17:35:00","modified_gmt":"2020-07-29T17:35:00","slug":"interview-how-oppo-made-125w-fast-charging-a-reality","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ipsnews.net\/business\/2020\/07\/29\/interview-how-oppo-made-125w-fast-charging-a-reality\/","title":{"rendered":"Interview: How Oppo made 125W fast charging a reality"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Fast charging technology is a staple of today’s smartphones, although there’s a wide spectrum of what counts as “fast.” Up until recently, supported technology has ranged from 18W to 65W of power, but that’s quickly becoming old news. The industry is sprinting ahead with ultra-fast charging speeds of 100W and above. See the recent announcements from Oppo<\/a>, Realme<\/a>, and Qualcomm<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The benefits of charging your phone to full in 20 minutes or less are an easy sell. However, making this a reality isn’t as simple. There’s new hardware and charging algorithms involved, as well as the extra strain on our already hard-working batteries to consider.<\/p>\n

Android Authority<\/em> sat down with Jeff Zhang, chief charging technology scientist and Senior Director of Hardware Engineering at Oppo, for a chat about what went into making Oppo’s new 125W Flash Charging tech a reality, how it works, and what it means for future devices.<\/p>\n

Why pursue 125W charging in the first place?<\/h2>\n

Today’s smartphones already charge very quickly, so why did Oppo bother pushing the boundaries even further? The answer isn’t just “because we can,” although that is part of it.<\/p>\n

Jeff Zhang explains, “the reason we developed 125W are: A, to have a higher charging speed, and B, which is more important, to have better compatibility.” He elaborates further that “the 125W charger can cover a lot of electronic devices […] [and in the future], this high performance and high power charging will not be limited to smartphones alone.” High power is useful for charging laptops and other gadgets quickly, and the idea is to have one powerful charger that caters to everything.<\/p>\n

This is a much more subtle point than other headlines about crazy fast charging times, but nonetheless important. The pitfalls of an increasingly messy USB-C specification<\/a> and the environmental impact from obsolete charger waste<\/a> can’t be overstated. Thankfully, Oppo technology supports Quick Charge and USB Power Delivery Programmable Power Supply (USB-PD PPS) to fast-charge a wide range of devices. The days of proprietary charging are on the way out as Oppo embraces the “one charger for everything” mentality.<\/p>\n

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With USB Power Delivery support, Oppo is embracing the ‘one charger for everything’ mentality.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

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Despite being based on proprietary technology, Oppo works with other companies to help make fast charging technology available everywhere. It was news to me that USB-PD PPS introduced Oppo’s Direct Charging system as part of its specification. In addition, Oppo has licensed its previous-generation fast charging technology to 23 manufacturers and they want to make Flash Charging available to all devices. This encompasses supporting the USB Power Delivery’s PPS protocol, as well as licensing Flash Charging directly to other companies. Qualcomm’s Quick Charge has some serious competition.<\/p>\n

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Faster charging requires superior batteries<\/h2>\n

125W charging is a technological challenge on many levels. It requires innovative approaches to batteries, charging plugs, and even software algorithms. We pressed for some more technical questions about how Oppo’s new solution works, as well as concerns that consumers may have about battery longevity and safety.<\/p>\n

We started by addressing the contentious claim that Oppo’s charging technology leaves batteries at 80% of their original capacity after 800 charge cycles. Qualcomm lists the same statistic for its latest Quick Charge 5 solution and Oppo states its batteries exceed China’s GBT18287-2000<\/a> specification for 60% after 400 cycles standard. But for us consumers, it’s not entirely clear if fast charging comes with a big trade-off to longevity or not.<\/p>\n

“I can be absolutely clear that Flash Charging will not cause any negative influence on the battery life,” Jeff notes. He cites the fact that there are over 157 million global devices using Oppo fast charging technology already as proof that there are no issues. That’s not exactly a final argument, so we went after a more concrete answer. The answer is that new innovations in both battery hardware and software should ensure battery longevity stays in the same ballpark that consumers are used to.<\/p>\n

All about batteries:<\/strong> What is mAh?<\/a><\/p>\n

For starters, a high C-rate battery is a requirement of 125W charging. Oppo’s 125W solution uses a 6C battery, which is up from 3C with 65W Super Vooc. For background, the C-rate designates a battery’s ability to handle high charge and discharge currents for a given capacity. A higher C-rate battery can charge (and discharge) faster with fewer negative effects for capacity and heat. Jeff elaborates:<\/p>\n

“If you use a low C-rate cell and apply high power charging into it, that will definitely cause problems. We have three red lines; lines that you should not cross when using the battery. The first is do not go beyond the C-rate that the battery can sustain. The second […] do not overheat or over-cool the battery. The third red line, and the most critical one, is [no] over-voltage charging.”<\/p>\n

Safety is clearly a major part of Oppo’s efforts with 125W, which we’ll explore in more detail in a minute. High temperatures and insufficient C-rate are the two big issues that negatively affect battery longevity when fast charging, and it’s clear Oppo has taken this into account with the move to 125W. The company is adamant that new approaches in its 125W solution prevent any negative impact on battery longevity. If there are any issues, we’ll have to wait until 125W smartphones land in consumer hands to investigate further.<\/p>\n

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”I can be absolutely clear that Flash Charging will not cause any negative influence on the battery life.”<\/p>\n