- Realme unveils 320W charger, charging phones in 5 minutes
- Battery and charger advancements enable rapid charging
- Commercial availability of this tech remains uncertain
Nothing is more frustrating than realising your phone is about to die just as you leave the house.
But that annoyance may soon be over, as smartphone maker Realme unveils a charger that can charge your phone in only five minutes.
The Chinese tech manufacturer’s new SuperSonic Charge Technology can charge a phone with up to 320W of power, which is 16 times more than a typical iPhone charger.
During this week’s event, the business demonstrated how to charge a 4,420mAh battery in four minutes and 30 seconds.
Unfortunately, Realme has yet to create a smartphone capable of handling such high power, so it may be some time before you can fully charge your phone while making a cup of tea.
At Realme’s 828 Fanfest event in Shenzhen, the firm demonstrated its most recent advancements in rapidly evolving technology.
After only one minute of charging, the smartphone reached 26% and was at 50% in less than two minutes.
For a smartphone with a battery somewhat smaller than the upcoming Pixel 9, this means going from dead to full charge in less than five minutes.
This astounding feat is made possible by considerable advancements to the charger and the battery.
Realme set the record for the quickest charging smartphone early last year with the GT Neo 5, which charged in nine and a half minutes using a 240W charger.
The company’s latest ‘Pocket Cannon’ power converter can deliver up to 320 watts of electricity to a connected gadget.
The charger has two USB-C ports, which can be used to send 150W to Realme smartphones and 65W to laptops.
For instance, the iPhone 15 and 15 Plus can only charge consistently at 20W, resulting in a 50% charge in about half an hour.
Realme claims the ‘AirGap’ voltage transformer prevents the battery from burning by ensuring the electricity reaches the phone at only 20 volts.
According to Realme, this uses a technology known as ‘contact-free electromagnetic conversion’ to ensure that the power supply charges at 93% efficiency.
The other significant improvement is Realme’s new battery, which has four distinct cells that can charge simultaneously.
Manufacturers such as Apple and Samsung typically employ single-cell batteries because they provide more power storage in a smaller size.
However, despite having multiple cells, Realme claims to have a larger battery than the iPhone 15’s 3,349mAh of storage.
According to a promotional film posted by the business, this is due to a foldable battery design inspired by satellite solar panels.
A firm representative says: “First, we cleverly miniaturised each battery cell into layered structures to improve space efficiency and obtain higher capacity.
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‘Second, we folded four battery cells into the shape of satellite panels and linked them to a flexible charging board.
The resulting battery is also flexible, suggesting it could be employed in a future folding smartphone design.
After setting the record for the fastest-charging smartphone early last year, Realme was quickly surpassed by Redmi, another Chinese phone company.
Less than a month after Realme established the record, Xiaomi’s subsidiary firm, Redmi, revealed the development of a 300W charger.
In tests, Xiaomi’s new technology could charge a 4,100mAh battery in just five minutes.
However, Xiaomi and Realme have yet to ship phones with these innovative battery designs.
Realme has also yet to indicate when the technology would be generally available, so there may be a considerable wait until five-minute charging is commercially available.
