What Is USB Fast Charging?

In today’s world, fast charging has become a primary requirement for a lot of devices, especially smartphones, as batteries are getting bigger and hardware is getting power-hungry.

Being able to charge the smartphone or any other device quickly means you can use it for long hours without spending much time while charging.

In general, fast charging technology can help you charge your smartphone up to 50% in just 15 minutes, and it is almost three to four times faster than normal standards. However, the rise of the fast-charging trend in the industry, it has also given rise to different types of fast-charging specifications. ByteCable is a professional fast USB charger manufacturer, you can bulk buy various chargers at an affordable price from here.

Each charger has its own standard and not all of them support various charging specifications. Today in this article, we will know about fast charging and different fast charging standards.

Fast Charging

Fast charging is a specification that helps a manufacturer to charge their device in a quick time. With fast charging specifications, the manufacturer has made it possible to deliver 100 watts of power through the charger.

There was a time when USB chargers were used to deliver a power of 5W to connected devices for charging. It was highly time-consuming, and users had to wait for hours before their devices could get fully charged.

But with increasing demand for quick charging and catering to power-hungry devices, fast charging specifications came into play. Initially, fast chargers could only go up to 7.5 watts or 10 watts of power delivery to quickly charge the connected devices.

It wasn’t enough for power-hungry smartphones, tablets, and laptops, and that is why manufacturers came with advanced fast-charging specifications. Currently, a fast charger can deliver a 15-watt of power at a minimum, and it changes according to the charger and the supported devices.

The highest power a fast charger can deliver is 240-watt, and it has been made possible by the USB Power Delivery standard. However, fast charging doesn’t have any universal standard, and this is the reason you will find different fast charging standards in the market. Manufacturers come with proprietary fast charging specifications, and most of them vary the voltage to increase power delivery.

However, there are some manufacturers who increase the current through their fast charging specifications to charge devices faster. The variable voltage ranges between 5V and 20V, while the amperage ranges from 1.5A to 5A.

How Fast Charging Works?

Fast charging works in a complex yet straightforward way because it utilizes a simple formula of multiplying current by the voltage to give an output power. The current depicts the total amount of electric current flowing from the source to the device, and the voltage is the factor that helps in forwarding the electric current.

So when a charger utilizes 9V to deliver 3A of current, it will deliver a power of 27-watt. Each fast charging specification either varies the voltage or boosts the current to increase the power needed to charge the device. Boosting the current has some drawbacks, and that is why the majority of fast charge specification utilizes varying voltage.

They use a specialized technique where it varies the voltage and current according to the power requirement of the device. The whole process takes place in three steps, and they are;

1. The charger, according to its fast charging specification and the device’s power requirement, increases the voltage while keeping the current constant. During this stage, the charger quickly charges a large percentage of the battery.
2. Once the charger has delivered a large amount of power to the device, the saturation stage appears. The voltage reaches the maximum threshold while the current slowly starts dropping.
3. In the last step, when the charger has delivered all the power needed by the device to charge the battery, it slows down the power delivery. Else it will deliver power from time to time to keep the device fully charged as it consumes battery along the way.

To utilize fast charging, the power must be passed through the right cable, and the device’s charging circuit must be using the intended fast charging standard. As charging speed goes down with time, this is the reason all manufacturers promote by saying that their charger is able to charge 50% at a certain time.

Different Types Of Fast Charging Standards

With the evaluation of fast charging and increasing demand, different manufacturers have come up with their own charging specifications. From charging smartphones to laptops, these standards have made a major breakthrough in the industry. Let’s take a look at them;

USB Power Delivery

Without a doubt, USB Power Delivery is the most preferred fast charging technology utilized by different manufacturers. USB-IF came up with USB PD as most modern devices were utilizing USB Type C for charging as well as data transfer. USB PD is able to cater to all the charging needs of most devices as it can deliver power up to 100 watts.

From smartwatches and smartphones to laptops and printers, USB PD has become a common fast-charging specification. Currently, all devices that are getting USB 4 will have the latest USB PD as their standard fast-charging option.

Qualcomm Quick Charge

Besides USB PD, it is Qualcomm’s Quick Charge specification that is widely used by manufacturers. A lot of manufacturers, like Samsung, Xiaomi, LG, Razer, etc, use Quick Charge in their devices as most of them are based on Snapdragon SoCs.

Quick Charge 3 is the most popular fast charging option for smartphones which is able to deliver around 18-watt. However, Quick Charge 4 and 4+ is the latest version that can provide 100-watt of power.

Samsung Adaptive Fast Charging

Adaptive Fast Charging is Samsung’s proprietary standard that is widely used on modern Samsung devices, especially on the Galaxy lineup.

It is based on Quick Charge 2.0 specification, so it has a maximum power output of 18 watts. It is compatible with Samsung’s most fast charging chargers. Importantly it can change the charging speed to ensure maximum efficiency.

Apple Fast Charging

Apple Fast Charging protocol is an exclusive fast charging that is available from iPhone 8. You will have to utilize an Apple USB-C power adapter and USB-C to Lightning Cable to utilize the fast charging benefits.

With normal 5-watt chargers, it would take more than hours to reach 50%, but when you use fast chargers, you can achieve it in 30 minutes. It is based on the USB PD protocol, and you can get different versions of fast chargers ranging from 18-watt, 29-watt to 87-watt.

OnePlus Warp Charging

OnePlus Warp Charging specification is another fast charging standard that is widely popular among OnePlus smartphone users.

The chargers utilize specialized technology to charge devices at full 30-watt power without varying voltage. All the latest OnePlus smartphones are capable of charging at 30-watt power, so the charger quickly charges the battery.

Oppo SuperVOOC Charging

Oppo also introduced their SuperVOOC technology, which is a fast charging protocol that is well-known for super fast charging. The latest charger based on SuperVooc technology is capable of delivering 65 watts of power and also uses various safety features offered by SuperVooc 2.0.

However, for high-speed charging, you need to utilize Oppo’s special USB C cable and adapter.

MediaTek Pump Express

MediaTek Pump Express is a fast charging protocol that varies the voltage and also enhances the current to deliver maximum power. Many smartphone makers like Motorola, Xiaomi, and Nokia are known to use Pump Express for fast charging their phones.

Pump Express 2.0 was designed for low-end SoCs in smartphones, and they can produce a maximum power of 15-watt through micro USB or Type C cable. The latest Pump Express 3.0 and 4.0 versions are based on USB PD 3.0, and the company claims it can charge a battery to 70% in just 15 minutes.

Motorola Rapid Charging and TurboPower

Unlike other brands, Motorola offers Rapid Charging and TurboPower as the fast charging standards. Rapid Charging is meant for fast charging low, range, and older Motorola smartphones.

It can provide 10-watt of power through USB C or micro USB. However, TurboPower is meant for mid to high-end smartphones that can provide up to 68 watts of power. Motorola also uses QC 3.0 as a secondary fast-charging option for their flagships.

Wireless Fast Charging

Wireless fast charging is the latest charging standard that is introduced for the convenience of users and reduces the need for cables. Even though it is considered as a fast charging standard, it is quite slower than wired fast charging standards.

As older wireless chargers lacked cooling systems so, due to overheating, they didn’t offer high power. However, modern manufacturers are coming up with the latest wireless charging pads that have an inbuilt cooling system, and they are able to deliver high power.

To utilize wireless fast charging, you need to make sure both the wireless charging pad and your device support the same standard.

Final Verdict

Fast charging is the future for not only smartphones but most devices as it is able to deliver the power of around 240 watts. Modern brands are enhancing the power delivery of their fast charging standard to make sure you are able to charge your device within a few minutes fully.

Even though there are many fast charging standards, most of them are based on USB Power Delivery and Qualcomm Quick Charge protocol.

However, there are some brands that have designed their fast charging protocol which can be only utilized for specific devices. Fast charging is also going wireless, and many smartphones are leaning toward this specification as it offers convenience and reduces e-waste.