Qualcomm announced its latest flagship processor yesterday, the Snapdragon 835. It uses Samsung’s 10nm FinFET production process which gives it an edge over the chips that use the 14nm process. This makes the resultant chips much more powerful, compact and power efficient. Along with the SoC, Qualcomm Quick Charge 4.0 was also announced. This is Qualcomm’s latest fast charging technology.
As expected, the Snapdragon 835 will be the first processor which will come with support for Qualcomm Quick Charge 4.0. Devices with support for this latest technology are expected to land in the markets by mid-2017. The Qualcomm Quick Charge 4.0 supports both USB Type-C and USB PD (power Delivery) charging methods.
Features of Qualcomm Quick Charge 4.0
Qualcomm claims that the new charging method offers many improvements over its predecessor – Qualcomm Quick Charge 3.0. Let us have a quick look at them:-
- 20 percent faster charging time.
- 30 percent more power efficient.
- 5 minutes of charge will give the device enough juice to last well around 5 hours.
According to Alex Katouzian, VP – Product Management, Qualcomm Quick Charge 4.0 has the ability to charge the device from 0 to 50 in merely 15 minutes.
More about Qualcomm Quick Charge 4.0
Quick Charge 4 uses the 3rd gen Qualcomm INOV power management algorithms. INOV stands for Intelligent Negotiation for Optimum Voltage. It is as good as it sounds. It uses real-time thermal management to decide the optimal power transfer at a certain thermal state.
That last part just went above your head right? Well, in simple words, it means that the INOV algorithm keeps a check on the temperature and supplies the right amount of power according to the temperature of your smartphone. Smart, isn’t it?
What else?
Qualcomm further said that wanted to make sure that your batteries remain safe and do not end up blowing up when charging like the infamous Samsung Galaxy Note 7. They have added many safety features to make sure that nothing explodes.
The safety features keep the voltage, current and temperature under constant monitoring and intervene whenever necessary. The safety features are present both in the adapter as well as the device.
In order to help the quick charge, Qualcomm has opted for two new Power Management Integrated Circuits – SMB1380 & SMB1381.
Recently, Google announced changes in the use of fast charging technologies and USB PD.
Qualcomm Quick Charge 4.0 not only comes with support for USB PD but also adds more features to it. The image above shows what backs Qualcomm’s claims regarding Quick Charge and USB PD. That’s all folks. Stay tuned as we will be checking out these claims as soon as the devices start offering them.
