Xiaomi phones could soon charge five times faster than the iPhone 11
100W puts the 'fast' in fast charging
Xiaomi seems to love big numbers in its phones – the Mi Note 10 was the first phone to have a 108MP camera sensor, its Mi Mix Alpha has a screen-to-body ratio of 180%, and now it seems Xiaomi phones in 2020 will come with incredibly speedy 100W fast charging.
This news comes from Xiaomi's Developer Conference, as reported on by Soyacincau, where the phone company teased it was planning to bring 100W fast charging to at least one of its 2020 smartphones.
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As well as having 100W fast charging, future Xiaomi phones will apparently come with wired and wireless fusion charging, letting you power up the device wirelessly and wired at the same time (for even quicker charging, presumably).
This pledge overlaps with its recent promise that every single one of its 2020 smartphones that costs over CNY2,000 (around $285 / £220 / AU$420) will have a 5G variant.
Since the Huawei ban halted that company's plans for Western smartphone dominance, Xiaomi (as well as a few other Chinese smartphone companies) has come out swinging, with a series of impressive smartphones, and it seems the company is only going to double down on that in 2020.
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Just how fast is 100W fast charging?
Xiaomi actually showed off its 100W fast charging tech earlier in 2019, in a video of a 4,000mAh battery powering up to full in 17 minutes, but at the time it wasn't clear if or when we'd see the tech.
At the moment, the only company with a fast-charge speed even near that of Xiaomi is Oppo, with 65W speeds that can be found in the Oppo Reno Ace – a phone which, notably, never came out in the west. Oppo also has 50W charging, and you can test that out in the Realme X2 Pro.
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In comparison, Samsung has 25W charging in the Galaxy S10, and Apple is maxed out at 18W in the iPhone 11. As the numbers imply, those charging speeds have nothing on the 100W fast charging the Xiaomi Mi 10 or Mi Note 11 could have.
Fast charging speeds don't guarantee you'll actually charge at this speed, as you need a compatible charger, however most phones come with one in the box.
While 100W fast charge might seem like the future of smartphones, there might be a catch, as super-speed powering up like this can often cause a battery capacity to depreciate pretty quickly. Perhaps Xiaomi has found a way to solve this issue, though.
For now, all we know is that Xiaomi's phones in 2020 could do away with the overnight charge so many of us are accustomed to, so you'll only need to plug your phone in briefly to get a day of use. We'll know for sure how this works next year, whenever Xiaomi announces its 100W fast charging powerhouse.
Tom Bedford was deputy phones editor on TechRadar until late 2022, having worked his way up from staff writer. Though he specialized in phones and tablets, he also took on other tech like electric scooters, smartwatches, fitness, mobile gaming and more. He is based in London, UK and now works for the entertainment site What To Watch.
He graduated in American Literature and Creative Writing from the University of East Anglia. Prior to working on TechRadar, he freelanced in tech, gaming and entertainment, and also spent many years working as a mixologist.