File this very definitely under link-of-interest, as it points towards hardware that we won't see for another year (especially in the Windows 10 Mobile world), but it's good to see that fast charging systems are both improving AND standardising. See the quoted press release below.

From the Qualcomm press release:

Today Qualcomm Technologies introduced Qualcomm Quick Charge 4, our latest and greatest fast charging technology, which will be available with the next generation Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 processor. What’s new with Quick Charge 4? It charges faster of course. But it’s not just faster, it’s designed to be more efficient and run cooler than prior generations. Compared to Quick Charge 3.0, Quick Charge 4 is up-to 20 percent faster, or 30 percent more efficient, while charging up to 5° C cooler.

Quick Charge 4 features many advancements over prior generations—here are a few:

• USB Type-C and USB Power Delivery (USB PD) compliant. By incorporating these technologies, Qualcomm Technologies standardizes the capabilities of Quick Charge 4 adapters, to help ensure that a single accessory supports multiple charging implementations and mobile devices, and that there is consistent performance when faced with the myriad of available charging solutions.
• Battery Saver adds advanced features designed to extend battery cycle life and provide comprehensive safety. Protection is implemented at multiple levels and throughout the entire charging process to help measure voltage, current, and temperature accurately while protecting the battery, system, cables, and connectors.
• INOV (Intelligent Negotiation for Optimum Voltage) version 3 is an algorithm engineered so your portable devices can determine what power level to request at any point in time, which allows for optimum power transfer while maximizing efficiency. New to Quick Charge 4: a compatible device can request to within 20mV or lower the specific power needed to charge while also running advanced thermal algorithms for case, battery, chip, and connector.
• Dual Charge is supported by including a second power management IC in the device (e.g., a smartphone). Charging a device via Dual Charge divide the charge current, allowing for more efficient thermal dissipation and reducing charge time. Our third generation Dual Charge technology incorporates intelligent thermal balancing engineered for optimized power delivery.

Qualcomm Quick Charge is the #1 fast charging method based on the number of devices and accessories commercially available. Today there are over 100 mobile devices and 300 accessories that come with Quick Charge 2.0 and 3.0. This is based on an ecosystem of over 150 companies manufacturing phones, tablets, a wide variety of charging accessories, and more. In fact, there have been more than 600 million devices and accessories using Quick Charge 2.0 or 3.0 sold to date2.

Quick Charge 4 is expected to be commercially available in the first half of 2017, and SMB1380/1 is expected to be available before the end of this year.

All very impressive. One of the biggest annoyances in the 2016 smartphone world was that half the high end phones available seemed to use Qualcomm Quick Charge (think multiple voltages, as seen on the HP Elite X3) and the other half seemed to use USB Type C's 'Power Delivery' standard (think high current at 5V, as seen on the Lumia 950 and 950 XL) - and yes, I'm simplifying things slightly here.

Not only will Quick Charge 4-compatible phones and kit be backwards compatible with QC 2 and QC3, they'll also work fine and at full charging rate with USB Power Delivery hardware. Which has got to be more convenient - and safer - in the long run.

PS. Bonus reading at Qualcomm - all about the Snapdragon 835