Forget iPhone 12 — this 80W charging blows it away

Apple deserves some kudos for adding 15W wireless charging in the form of its new MagSafe charger for the iPhone 12. But over in China, one phone maker has revealed a wireless charger that more than quadruples that speed.

Xiaomi’s Weibo page has just proudly revealed its new 80W wireless charging technology. That’s enough power to charge a 4,000 mAh battery in just 19 minutes, or to 50% in only 8 minutes.

You can watch a timelapse video of the tech in action with a special Mi 10 Pro charging on a stand.

Xiaomi already offers 50W wireless charging on one of its China-only handsets, the Mi 10 Ultra, but 80W beats that again, and puts it well ahead of any other smartphone maker’s wireless charging abilities.

While basically all wireless charging phones can charge at up to 10W thanks to the universal Qi charging standard, proprietary chargers go higher. The iPhone 12 series can charge up to 15W for example, while the OnePlus 8 Pro can go up to 30W. Xiaomi’s 80W charging is crazy high in comparison, beating even the OnePlus 8T‘s wired 65W charging.

The problem with higher charging speeds is the heat generated in the battery during the process, which can drastically reduce its operating life or even damage other components. OnePlus gets around this problem by building a fan into its charging stand, and by dividing the battery of its 8T into two halves which charge simultaneously at a lower wattage. We’d expect Xiaomi to be making use of at least one of these methods to stop the phone from extra wear and tear.

We’ll likely see this technology actually appear on a phone next year, since Xiaomi has launched both the Mi 10 and Mi 10T already this year. It will be interesting to see how other companies up their charging speeds to react, although we’d expect more of a focus on wired charging speeds, since that’s still the most common way for users in the U.S. and U.K. to charge their phones.