Galaxy S9 won't support Qualcomm Quick Charge 4+ in the US

By JC Torres/Dec. 14, 2017 2:29 am EST

The Galaxy S9 seems to be shaping up to be somewhat of a disappointment. Just recently, a leak seemed to confirm that it might not have dual cameras, which is being reserved for its Galaxy S9+ sibling. Now a new leak claims that, despite being powered by Qualcomm's latest and greatest Snapdragon 845, it won't actually be supporting Qualcomm's latest and greatest Quick Charge 4+ technology. But as it turns out, that might actually open a bigger can of worms as well.

Pending new battery technology that will solve all our problems and complaints about battery life and safety, there are currently only two ways to solve the short battery lives of our phones. Either you cram in more battery capacity or you try to offset it with faster charging.

Technologies like Qualcomm's Quick Charge, MediaTek's Pump Express, and OnePlus' DASH Charge have been designed for the latter course of action. Introduced just last June, the new Qualcomm Quick Charge 4+ not only brings faster charging times but also some extra level of safety that Samsung would probably want after last year's fiasco with the Galaxy Note 7.

Except that it doesn't for some reason. And it won't even with the Galaxy S9. According to the leak, it won't feature Quick Charge 4+ but only in the US and Hong Kong because it has failed to acquire the necessary licenses for the technology in those markets. But before you become very disappointed, it seems that Samsung hasn't been using even Quick Charge 3.0 for its latest devices. According to Qualcomm's own list, the Galaxy S8 uses Quick Charge 2.0. No mention of the Galaxy Note 8, though.

It is somewhat surprising that Samsung is still able to pull off that much fast charging even without the latest tech. But it could probably do better if it did. Sadly, market-specific licensing and patent issues abound in the mobile industry, just like how Sony is supposedly prevented from implementing a fingerprint sensor under the side power button but, strangely, not Razer.

VIA: Weibo