A new INOV technology could make it possible

Nov 11, 2016 14:23 GMT  ·  By

The problem with all smartphones is that they don't offer enough autonomy. Even handsets with very large batteries must be charged on a daily basis if they are used heavily, or at least once every two days.

While display, chipset, camera and design technologies continued to evolve, the technology behind smartphone batteries didn't really make any breakthroughs that would enable handset manufacturers to put more energy in smaller packages.

This is one of the reasons quick charging technology exists - to reduce the time required for a phone's battery to recharge, thus reducing the time the user can't take advantage of the phone's capabilities.

Many handset makers have decided to develop their own quick charge solutions, but most of them are using Qualcomm's technology. Currently, the chipset maker offers Quick Charge 3.0 to many smartphones already available on the market, which is a technology that provides flexibility with 200mV increments from 3.6V to 20V.

Quick Charge 3.0 is more advanced than previous technologies due to the fact that it can intelligently identify how much power the battery can take at any point during charging. Basically, it can prevent overheating, which many batteries are susceptible of because of the highly volatile elements they use inside.

According to Qualcomm, Quick Charge 3.0 can charge a 2,750 mAh battery from 0 to 71% in just 30 minutes. However, the rest of battery won't charge up just as fast.

The good news is Qualcomm is readying yet another quick charging technology, which is expected to be integrated into the Snapdragon 830 chipset slated for a 2017 release.

Quick Charge 4.0 will support 28W charging and will be able to charge large batteries quite fast thanks to a new technology called INOV (Intelligent Negotiation for Optimum Voltage), which can fine-tune the battery while it's being charged.

In comparison, Quick Charge 3.0 supports up to 18W charging for smartphones, while Huawei's Super Charge peaks at 22.5W.