Chinese smartphone makers realme and OPPO have both announced a new standard for fast charging for mobiles, with a new 125W wired charger, while OPPO has also announced a new, faster 65W wireless charger. 

The OPPO fast charging, called Flash Charge, can charge a 4,000mAh battery up to 41% in 5 mins, while realme’s UltraDART fast charging will charge a 4,000mAh battery up to 33% in JUST 3 MINS…with both able to charge a 4,000mAh battery to full in 20 minutes. 

OPPO also announced their 65W AirVOOC wireless charging solution which can can fully charge a 4,000mAh battery in 30 minutes. They’ve also announced an ultra-small 50W mini SuperVOOC charger, and a 110W flash charger as well. 

The fast charging solutions are similar, and it turns out the realme version is supported by OPPO’s technology, with a spokesperson saying ‘realme’s 125W UltraDartcharge is supported by OPPO’s technology, and has been adapted to meet the needs of realme users and performs best with realme devices. For example, with UltraDart we have focused more on the increasing speeds in the early stages of the charging cycle as our users tend to want quick bursts of charge throughout the day.’

OPPO has always been ahead of the pack when it comes to fast charge solutions, and with more than 2,800 global patents for flash charging to their name, it’s easy to see why. OPPO previously impressed with the fast charging capability of the Find X2 with 65W VOOC charging, but this is another level.

OPPO Australia Managing Director, Michael Tran says he sees many applications including 5G as highlighting the need for faster charging on mobiles, saying ‘The accelerated 5G rollout worldwide, as well as the increasing diversification of high-power-consumption applications such as gaming and video viewing represent new challenges for the battery life of mobile phones and user charging experience. OPPO has been leading the development of fast charging ever since VOOC flash charge was launched in 2014. 

It’s pertinent to note that both OPPO and realme are owned by parent company BBK Electronics, who also own another smartphone brands Vivo, OnePlus and iQOO, so it’s likely we’ll hear about this new fast charging technology on those brands soon.

The introduction of faster charging has been a goal for many OEMs, with Samsung notably having issues with the Note 7 in 2016, though their issue turned out to be faults in the battery.

Realme are aware of the issues with accelerating the charging process on mobiles, and have implemented a unique temperature control function which they say ‘assures safety as charging speeds do not exceed 40°C’, while still getting the battery charged in just 20 minutes.

No word yet on what devices will launch with the new charging technology, but we can’t wait to try it out.