Smartphones could one day go 100% in a second, Oppo says

The head of fast charging at Oppo dreams of a mechanism that fills smartphone batteries in a second.

With each new generation of smartphones, manufacturers offer new technologies to increase the autonomy of the devices without (too) enlarging the size of the battery. For example, they may use new processors or new displays with better energy efficiency.

Or they can also develop new software to reduce the battery demand. But at the same time, brands are also developing new charging technologies that reduce the time needed to have a 100% charged battery.

And among the brands that excel in this area, there is Oppo. This year, at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, ​​the company also made a strong impression by presenting a smartphone prototype equipped with 240 W fast charging technology. With this speed, the device can go from 0% battery to 100% in less than 10 minutes.

240 W SuperVooc Flash Charge, this technology is however not yet available on a commercial product. Indeed, before considering marketing, Oppo must consider other parameters and must in particular ensure that the charging speed does not damage the battery prematurely.

Either way, Oppo’s fast-charging ambitions seem to have no limits. And recently, a brand manager even suggested that one day we could have devices capable of charging to 100% in just one second.

Is it possible?

The conditional is in order because for the moment, we are still far from having the technologies necessary to achieve this exploit which would revolutionize the industry.

Recently, our colleagues from TechRadar spoke with Edward Tian, ​​the head of the Oppo laboratory in charge of developing fast charging technologies. When he was asked about the limits of fast charging for smartphones, here is what he replied: “As a technical engineer in the field of fast charging, for me, my job is to push the limits. We will continue to explore until one-day phones can be fully charged in a second.“ 

Nevertheless, the manager admits that increasing the charging speed of a smartphone is not a simple thing.

“Increasing charge speed isn’t the hardest part [of that one-second goal]. To provide a good fast charging experience for users, we need to consider more aspects, such as safety, charging temperature, battery cell energy density, charger size, duration battery life, etc”, explained Tian.

Until this feat can be achieved, or until Oppo releases its 240W fast charging technology, the Chinese company already offers one of the best technologies in the industry. On the OnePlus 10T, it offers fast charging at 150 W which allows you to go to 100% in 19 minutes.