Qualcomm announces 'Quick Charge 5', four times faster than QC 4...

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Four years on from the Quick Charge 4 reveal, Qualcomm has announced Quick Charge 5, with support for more voltages and higher currents, plus support for dual cell batteries. It all adds up to quick charging up to four times faster than Quick Charge 4, but with more protections in place to make sure nothing goes wrong. Happily, it's all backwards compatible with Quick Charge 2, 3 and 4, so in theory you can plug and play with phones and chargers of different generations.

From the Qualcomm press release:

Qualcomm Technologies, Inc. announced Qualcomm® Quick Charge™ 5, the fastest commercial charging technology for Android devices, which delivers unprecedented mobile phone charging speed and efficiency improvements compared to previous versions while enabling new battery technology, accessories, and safety features. The world’s first commercially viable fast charging platform to support more than 100W charging power in a smartphone, Quick Charge 5 is engineered to allow users to charge devices from 0 to 50 percent battery power in just five minutes – representing the fastest mobile phone charging capabilities available. Quick Charge 5 also uses Qualcomm® Battery Saver and the new Qualcomm® Smart Identification of Adapter Capabilities technology to support unparalleled efficiency and help extend the battery life cycle on a users’ device.

Building upon Qualcomm Technologies’ long-standing leadership in fast charging solutions, Quick Charge 5 is the newest addition to the industry’s leading fast-charging ecosystem. Affording exponential improvements from its predecessors, Quick Charge 5 is 70 percent more efficient than Quick Charge 4 and offers 10 times the power delivery of Quick Charge 1. This solution supports 2S batteries and 20 Volts of power delivery.

Quick Charge 5 sets a new standard for charging performance by charging up to four times faster than the previous generation. While Quick Charge 5 charges devices at blazing fast speeds, it also keeps extreme safety measures in mind; Quick Charge 5 incorporates 12 separate voltage, current and temperature protections, including USB-input overvoltage protection at 25V and external power controls beyond 30V. It also runs 10 degrees Celsius cooler than Quick Charge 4. Quick Charge 5 enables Dual/Triple Charge technology, adaptive input voltage, INOV4, Qualcomm Battery Saver and the new Qualcomm Smart Identification of Adapter Capabilities technology, which work together to maximize power transfer efficiency, increase safety and help extend the battery life cycle on a users’ device.

Quick Charge technology is the industry leading fast-charging method, available on more than 1,200 mobile devices, accessories, and controllers – ranging from car adapters to docking stations – and unifying the handset and laptop charging ecosystem. Backwards compatible with Quick Charge 2.0, 3.0, 4, 4+ and existing handsets powered by the Qualcomm® Snapdragon™ mobile platform, Quick Charge 5 is a single accessory that addresses a variety of charging implementations in mobile devices. This solution’s support for more than 100W charging capabilities functions within the same footprint as the previous 45W solution, cutting down on users’ need to purchase additional Quick Charge-certified accessories across devices. Quick Charge 5 is optimized to take advantage of both USB-PD and Type-C technologies, addressing future Android requirements. Compatibility with industry standards like USB Type-C protocols also help users benefit from Quick Charge 5’s inherent scalability and expansion into additional devices.

New hardware is, of course, needed for best results, meeting the claims above. Quick Charge 5 is fully supported on Snapdragon 865, 865 Plus, and future premium and high-tier Snapdragon mobile platforms (e.g. future 700 series chips). There's a handy promo video too:

 

Curiously there's no mention of Power Delivery, one of the USB standards for charging. PD was mentioned in terms of compatibility in the Quick Charge 4 announcement, so perhaps the two are diverging again.

When choosing a smartphone in 2020, there's a bit of a charging minefield to navigate, in terms of Quick Charge, Power Delivery, and various Chinese charging brands: 'Warp Charge', 'Super VOOC', and 'Dash Charge'. They all resolve to a common denominator, of course, usually 5V and 3A, so 15W, which will always be safe, but for fastest results you usually have to use the right manufacturer charger with its own phone hardware.

Source / Credit: Qualcomm