impression : reckon back just a twelvemonth or two ago and you ’d spot a variety of speech sound offer rapid wired charging capabilities ; theOnePlus 10Toffered 150W , theXiaomi 13 Prooffered 120W and theOppo Find X6 Proboasted 100W. Then there were outlier like the Realme GT5 , which offer a walloping 240W despite not really wee-wee it to the European market as initially design .

These wired charge speeds have steadily been increase over the year , allow for a full boot in less than 20 second in some cases . However , it seems the tech peak in 2023 and has splay back down that hill in 2024 with most flagship smartphones cap out somewhere in the 80W region when it hail to pumped up charging .

That ’s true not only of theOppo Find X8 Probut also of the likes of theXiaomi 14 UltraandHonor Magic 6 Pro , all of which had predecessors with fast , more powerful burden capabilities – so what has pass off over the preceding 12 months to bring about such a striking chemise ?

While there are likely a number of factors at play , including the all - important symmetricalness between fast charging and battery abjection – faster charging produces more heat which in routine damages the stamp battery within the phone , reducing its mental ability over time – it also seems like new battery technology could have something to do with it .

That newfangled battery applied science is Si carbon copy , which has skyrocketed in popularity among smartphone manufacturers over the past yr – and it ’s not surd to see why OEMs ( Original Equipment Manufacturers ) are going wild for it .

equate to the Li - ion battery technical school find within most smartphones over the past decade , silicon carbon paper barrage fire offer a wealth of benefits , with the cock-a-hoop being a monolithic boost to vigor density .

This essentially boil down to the fact that silicon can store more lithium ions than the plumbago alternative determine in lithium - ion bombardment , meaning manufacturers can pile more mightiness into the same space or potentially slim down equipment without a knock - on effect on electric battery lifetime .

Silicon - carbon shelling also tend to do better in colder temperatures , making them idealistic for use in colder regions around the world . The tech could also drive home a much - needed revolution in the EV market , but that ’s another story altogether .

It may not be the perfect lithium-ion replacement

However , for all the benefit of the tech , it has one big problem in its current loop ; the expansion and contraction of the battery as the temperature of the cell changes during use .

Plus , with A-one fast charging technical school yield a lot of oestrus within a smartphone – anyone who has fast - charged a phone will be familiar with how warm the handsets can get – it simply mean that silicon carbon batteries ca n’t bear down quite as quickly as the atomic number 3 - ion competition .

With that in mind , it should n’t come as much surprise to notice out that the Oppo Find X8 professional , Honor Magic 6 Pro and Xiaomi 14 Ultra have all made the jump to silicon atomic number 6 technology . Do you see why that 80W bursting charge limit ca-ca more sense now ?

Do n’t get me wrong , 80W charging is very tight indeed . The problem is that , combined with a monolithic gain in battery capacity in Si carbon - power smartphones , it ’s beginning to take a while to charge these phone – closer to the one - hour mark than the 20 - 30 minute of arc we ’ve seen with old tight - charging flagships .

The good news is that there ’s no inbuilt limit on the charge focal ratio with silicon carbon batteries , it ’s more down to manufacturer being conservative and focusing on other areas of battery optimization while the technology is still new , so we could see a paying back to truthful fast charging down the line , but incisively when that ’ll happen is undecipherable decently now .