Meizu Super mCharge tops up to full in 20 minutes

With smartphones these days that are slowly but surely turning away from removable batteries, the battery problem can only be solved in two ways: either with a bigger battery or faster charging times. Since bigger batteries usually mean bigger phones, most manufacturers and users might prefer the latter solution. But even the fastest charging tech takes more than an hour to go from drained to full charged. Unless they adopt Meizu's Super mCharge, which promises to fully charge a battery in the time you can finish a cup of coffee. Leisurely, of course.

Most fast charging technologies, including the ubiquituous Qualcomm Quick Charge, usually advertise how fast it takes to charge a phone from 0 to 50% or 60%, which does take anywhere from 20 to 30 minutes. After that, charging usually slows down to keep the current and heat at a safe level. The reasoning here is that you'd probably be more interested in just having enough charge to get you going as soon as possible rather than fully charging your phone.

But what if you can, indeed, charge your phone to full within that same span of time? That is the claim Meizu is making with the Super mCharge. By outputting 11V/5A for a total of 55 watts, it says it can fully charge a smartphone to full in just 20 minutes. Of course, such super fast charging and high voltages will raise questions about safety and battery longevity. Naturally, Meizu says there's nothing to worry about. It is able to keep charging temperatures down to 39C and even after 800 charge cycles (not 800 charging times), a 3,000 mAh battery retains 80% of its charge, on par with other regular charging technologies.

Meizu still has to tread carefully in this area, especially after how Samsung's reputation was tarnished by battery problems and fire hazards. Consumers might be a bit more wary of such novel charging tech, despite the promises made. Especially considering the industry has not yet standardized on fast charging technology.

That said, it might be a while before we actually see Meizu's Super mCharge in an actual device, from Meizu or others. OPPO made a similar spiel last year, coincidentally also at MWC, with its Super VOOC flash charging tech, which still has to be seen in a retail device.

SOURCE: Meizu