The year is 2019. You buy a new iPhone. You think that you have an iPhone fast charger – but when you plug it in, it seems normal speed. So, you ask yourself, what is fast charging? Does a Samsung fast charger work like this?! And if your phone does have the feature, then how to turn on fast charging?
It’s the feature that has lit up the charging world for the past few years. But fast charging is more complicated than it sounds, as many people are discovering. Just plugging in any old charger doesn’t help even if your phone is fast charging enabled, as this great piece on cables explains. Plus, all the talk of amps and volts and watts is pretty meaningless if you’re not sure what the benefits are, or whether a higher watt charger might help you go from 0-100% in half an hour.
Wonder no more as we give you the down low on what fast charging is, the difference between an iPhone fast charger and a Samsung fast charger, and how to turn on fast charging whether you have an iPhone, Samsung or OPPO. But first, we’ll give you a run down of a few terms you might need to know and might struggle to remember from high school science class…
Fast Charging Buzzwords
There are some important words to remember when we’re talking about charging, and particularly when asking what is fast charging? Three key letters to remember are A, V, and W. Their meanings are:
- Amps (A) – measures Amperes of Current, or the flow of electricity
- Volts (V) – measure Voltage, or the pressure from an electrical circuit’s power source that pushes the current around your device
- Watts (W) – the electrical output, or the unit we measure electrical power in where higher numbers = more power
The scientific way that electrical power is measured is seen in a simple formula. To understand the question of what is fast charging, you also need to know that according to the Dictionary a coulomb (C) is “the SI unit of electric charge, equal to the quantity of electricity conveyed in one second by a current of one ampere”.
What tends to make more sense is the plumbing pipes analogy. As ‘HowStuffWorks’ explains:
The voltage is equivalent to the water pressure, the current is equivalent to the flow rate, and the resistance is like the pipe size… What happens if you increase the pressure in the tank? [M]ore water come[s] out of the hose. The same is true of an electrical system: Increasing the voltage will make more current flow.HowStuffWorks
Ultimately then, whether you have want an iPhone fast charger, a Samsung fast charger, or anything for your laptops and bigger devices, the science remains the same.
What Is Fast Charging?
To understand fast charging you need a basic knowledge of how charging works. Of course, everyone knows that you plug your phone into a power outlet via USB or place it on a wireless charger in order to increase your battery. But how does this actually work?
Okay. So, what is fast charging? In essence, knowing the plumbing analogy helps you. In normal chargers, the current is generated and flows through the USB cables into your phone (learn more about why they’re important to fast charging here). The phone takes in as much power as its charging circuit is designed for. Fast charging simply multiplies this to increase and maximise the Wattage, or electrical output.
Fast charging, then, is what happens when the amount of current to your phone is increased without the side-effects of over-current. Your phone receives more juice and charges more quickly as a result. Please note – this means that your phone has to accept fast charging in order to fast charge. You’ll need to check this at the manufacturers website, though most recent smartphones are equipped.
How Does Fast Charging Affect A Lithium-Ion Battery?
It’s well known that most smart phones contain Lithium-ion batteries. If you’re not sure about what this means, check out our quick guide!
The first thing you need to know is that your average smartphone’s Lithium-ion battery doesn’t just do ‘plug in, charge up’. It does two different things. Namely, the voltage steadily increases from anywhere as low as 2V to as high as 4.2V, known as the ‘constant current’ phase. The most amount of current is accepted by the battery in this stage, remaining constant until the voltage peaks.
What goes up must come down. Once the voltage peaks it begins to fall, with less current flowing into the battery. The battery charges slower after this; approximately 50-60% of the way into the charge.
Fast chargers understand this. They want to get as much current into the battery as possible before it hits its peak, which is why it’s important you know how to turn on fast charging on your smartphone for full efficiency. This is also why companies mention how fast their phones can reach 50% – not how fast it takes them to go from 80 to 100% (past peak voltage). Fast charging devices are able to exploit the pre-voltage peak by putting more current in (e.g. 30W or 61W) to safely increase your charging speed.
Types of Fast Charging
Qualcomm Quick Charge (2.0 and 3.0)
You can’t answer ‘what is fast charging?’ without looking at Qualcomm Quick Charge. This technology has been around for a few years now. In fact, it was probably part of your phone around 2013 as the 1.0 version! So if your phone from then is still going strong, you’ll be able to compare charging times. It’s probably the most common type of fast charging available.
There are two different versions in use now: 2.0, and 3.0. You would know the former through Samsung, who use the 2.0 version of the tech in their S and Note ranges as well as their incredibly similar ‘Samsung Adaptive Fast Charging’, for instance. Both version peak at around 18V, with the key difference being that 2.0 ups the voltage at 5V, 9V, and 12V. 3.0 has a wider range at which it can boost voltage, from 3.2V to 20V. This is why it’s good to know what voltage is best for your make and model of phone.
They’ve also brought out Qualcomm 4+, which they say is the one charging solution you’ll need. It narrows the voltage range while increasing the amps, and is compliant with Power Delivery. It’s rumored to charge compatible phones in 15 minutes, but isn’t widespread at the moment.
Note: if your phone only supports Qualcomm quick charge, then your charger will have to be Qualcomm quick charge, and vice versa. Your Qualcomm enabled charger is unlikely to work effectively with OPPO’s VOOC, for instance. Check out all compatible devices at this link.
USB Power Delivery
USB Power Delivery is a standard authorised in 2012. It standardizes fast charging across all devices with USB ports, implementing a data protocol between the charger and phone. This means they’re both on the same page, as it were; the phone and charger will both be able to reach the maximum power delivery.
It works to up to 100W of power, though 7.5W and 15W are best for your smartphone. It’s becoming fairly standard for many companies, with most leading brands carrying this technology. It’s also within devices beyond mobiles like tablets and laptops. In fact, it’s the tech that Apple uses in their phone, so you need to look for one of these if you want an iPhone fast charger.
We’ve written in more detail about Power Delivery if you need more information, and looked into unusual reasons why you should get a PD charger. If you’re looking for an iPhone fast charger, you can check out the RAVPower range.
OPPO SuperVOOC Flash Charge
First introduced in 2014, VOOC stands for Voltage Open Loop Multi-step Constant-Current Charging. It uses dedicated technology to charge safely at 25W; SuperVOOC is the 2018 model, which delivers a maximum 50W of power.
OPPO claims that this can beat any Samsung fast charger or iPhone fast charger – 0-100% in 35 minutes, even if you’re watching Netflix or scrolling Instagram. Whilst there have been claims that this isn’t quite true – with the last 20 minutes being pretty slow – OPPO say this is faster than any other charging tech available at the moment. It’s also only available in OPPO phones.
How to Turn On Fast Charging
Now we’ve answered ‘what is fast charging?’ it’s time to look at how you can turn it on. Most phones nowadays come with fast chargers; just in case yours has been turned off, check out our guide on how to turn on fast charging!
Samsung Fast Charger
As we noted before, Samsung have their own Adaptive fast charging system that works similarly to Qualcomm’s. Most phones with a Samsung fast charger, such as the Galaxy Note 10, even support Adaptive USB and Wireless fast charging. Because of this, any new Samsung you buy should automatically come with Fast Charging turned on.
However, if you don’t think your Samsung fast charger is working or want to check, you can follow these simple instructions.
- Go to Settings
- Click ‘Device Care’
- Select ‘Battery’
- Go to ‘More Options’
- Click ‘Settings’
- Check that the slider next to ‘Fast cable charging’ is switched on!
Check out the Samsung help page for more info!
iPhone Fast Charger
Apple supports fast charging on iPhone 8 and above. They claim this leads to 50% battery in 30 minutes – amazing time, especially if your iPhone also drains battery!
iPhone fast charge should already be switched on with your phone. Apple suggest that if you think your phone isn’t fast charging, you are probably using the wrong charger… and lets face it, they’re probably right as they don’t supply an iPhone fast charger with their mobiles and Airpower failed miserably. Seems a bit of an oversight, but it means you can look around and buy cheaper, more efficient third party chargers elsewhere.
Official recommendations are that you use an 18W, 29W, 30W, 61W, or 87W USB-C Power Adapter, like the world’s smallest PD Pioneer GaN 61W charger. Once you use the correct charger you should see a huge difference with charging times.
OPPO Fast Charger
As VOOC flash charging is its own entity, you need to look more closely at what to do if you’re using an OPPO phone. You can tell if your phone isn’t flash charging if the yellow lightning symbol in the top right hand corner isn’t showing. Luckily, the OPPO website provides all the details with how to deal with this. We’ve distilled the important ones here.
Firstly, you’ve got to know why your phone isn’t charging. To figure out if it’s a phone issue rather than a charger issue, you have to change out the USB cable and wall charger individually. By doing this, you can accurately check whether there is an issue with the charging port or the charger you’re using. And remember that, because OPPO’s charging tech is only in their phones, you can’t test by borrowing an iPhone fast charger or a Samsung fast charger from your friends.
You can also try little tricks like removing the battery and replacing it, if this is possible in your phone. Who knew they still made phones like that?! More likely, your OPPO battery won’t come out and you’ll have to try restarting your phone and downloading the latest software update. Again, this seems like a bit of an issue if you’re running out of battery…
If it’s your charger that has broken and you need an affordable replacement, we always recommend this nifty little number. And as we mentioned before – your phone wont fast charge effectively with a Samsung fast charger you’ve borrowed from a friend. Make sure you’ve got one that is compatible to take full advantage of this tech.
Conclusion – What is Fast Charging?
From Qualcomm to OPPO’s SuperVOOC, fast charging is the future. With the next advancement looking to lie with OPPO and Qualcomm Quick Charge 4+, we can expect some incredible charging speeds in the near future. But our key takeaways from asking ‘what is fast charging’? Well, at the very least you should now know how to turn on fast charging on your phone.
It’s important to remember as well that, whether you’re looking for an iPhone fast charger or want to test your Samsung fast charger, make sure you know the wattage and type of charger that your phone works best with. Then make sure you have a wall adaptor and cable that allows you to charge at full potential.
We hope we’ve answered what is fast charging! If you’re looking for an iPhone fast charger, did you know PD Power banks exist? Check out our favorite 30W PD Power Bank here!