Quick Charge 4

Qualcomm has given its charging technology an update. Chris Martin looks at what we can expect

Qualcomm has announced Quick Charge 4, which will bring even faster charging and other new features to devices including smartphones this year.

At its Snapdragon Tech Summit in New York, Qualcomm officially announced Quick Charge 4 ahead of its release in 2017. The platform, for want for a better word, is the leading charging method in more than 300 accessories and 100 devices.

The headline feature of Quick Charge 4 is something called ‘5 in 5’ meaning you can get five hours worth of battery life from just a five minute long charge. Quick Charge will be available via the upcoming Snapdragon 835 processor which Qualcomm has given the first details on.

Thanks to technologies such as ‘Dual Charge’, ‘typical premium phone users’ can expect to see up to 20 percent faster charging and 30 percent higher efficiency compared to Quick Charge 3.0.

“As mobile devices become more capable and feature rich, people tend to use them more. That’s why consumer demand and awareness for fastcharging solutions is now at an all-time high. Quick Charge 4 addresses that need by providing up to 50 percent battery charge in roughly 15 minutes or less, so you don’t have to spend all day chained to your charging cable,” said Alex Katouzian, senior vice president of product management at Qualcomm Technologies.

With a bigger focus on safety following events such as the Samsung Galaxy Note 7, Qualcomm has added some features in Quick Charge 4. This includes voltage, current and temperature protection as well as cable quality and type detection. Interestingly, Qualcomm mentioned that there will be two upcoming phones from undisclosed manufacturers which will contain 7000+mAh batteries.