Weekly poll: how fast should fast charging be?

In very quick succession, phones broke the 100W charging barrier, jumped to 210W late last year and at least one manufacturer is already promoting 240W on an upcoming phone. Are these numbers pretty amazing – or maybe pretty crazy?

The 210W phone we mentioned is the Redmi Note 12 Discovery. It has a relatively small 4300mAh battery, but it only takes 9 minutes to fully charge. And if you only have 5 minutes to spare, the battery can go from dead to 66% charged in that time.

Smartphones are rapidly setting and breaking new charging speed records

Battery capacity is an important consideration here. As we explored last year, phones with fast charging come with smaller batteries – for example, a phone with 120W charging typically has a 10% smaller battery than a very similar phone with a load of about 65 W.

So with that in mind, how fast do you want your next phone to go from zero to 100%? We’ll divide the options by time rather than power because not all phones with the same power rating charge at the same speed. And there are also the aforementioned variations in battery capacity.

So how fast is fast enough? 15 minutes or less? 30 ? A long night of charging? Vote below or using this page. Note that we only ask about wired charging here.

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Alright, time to go wireless. We know some see it as an inefficient method that heats up the phone unnecessarily, but others appreciate the convenience. Things should improve with Qi2, which will be inspired by Apple’s MagSafe (whether it’s backwards compatible remains to be seen).

The magnets align the charging coil of the phone with that of the charger. That means you can throw the phone to charge with your eyes closed, which you might do if you pick it up to check for a notification in the middle of the night. The more precise alignment also increases efficiency (and reduces waste heat). The first Qi2-enabled devices are expected to launch later this year.

Do you want wireless charging on your next phone? And if so, how fast should it be? Vote below or using this page.

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