Vivo iQOO teases 120W Super FlashCharge coming next month

While Samsung and Huawei and soon LG will be fighting over flexible displays, some are going to race for the fastest charging technologies. Xiaomi fired the opening show last year but bowed out for a while, claiming that 100-watt or higher charging is not yet ready from prime time. OPPO, however, seems to beg to differ and now even Vivo, via its iQOO brand, will be tempting fate with a 120W Super FlashCharge that it says will be ready for the public next month.

It's definitely surprising that these two phone makers are advertising greater than 100W charging speeds when Xiaomi was doubtful with even just 100W. Of course, they may know something that Xiaomi didn't to make that technology safe. They better do if they're already willing to launch phones with 120W charging.

At its 15-minute presentation, iQOO did explain some of the non-proprietary information that makes the technology possible. It practically involves dialing down the voltage while increasing the amp as well as splitting the current between two charging circuits and two battery cells. It's not unlike what OPPO already uses for its 65W charging, just with more power involved.

The result is that the 120W Super FlashCharge system can juice up a battery from zero to full in 15 minutes. Exactly the time that iQOO allotted for its press conference. It also contrasted it with another phone charging at 55W and barely reaching 50% within that same time frame.

iQOO didn't say much about what phone this new technology will debut in but it did drop an August date for it. Considering the brand's focus on high-performance phones, it wouldn't be surprising if it were another mobile gaming device.