Qualcomm Quick Charge 4 is official: Offers 20% faster charging and improved power efficiency

Qualcomm Technologies has taken the wraps of its latest fast charging solution with the Qualcomm Quick Charge 4. The Snapdragon 835 processor will be one of the first chipsets to be supporting Quick Charge 4. Devices sporting Snapdragon 835 are expected to hit the markets in mid-2017. Quick Charge 4 will support USB Type C and USB PD charging methods as well. According to Qualcomm, the Quick Charge 4 will deliver almost 20 percent improvements in charging times and will also offer 30 percent improved power efficiency as compared to Quick Charge 3.0. Qualcomm claims that a mere 5 minutes of charging should give the user 5 hours worth of battery life. We will need to test this thoroughly when the Quick Charge 4 launches.  According to Qualcomm vice president of product management, Alex Katouzian, Quick Charge 4 is capable of providing 50 percent battery charge in just 15 minutes of charging. Quick Charge 4 uses the third generation Qualcomm INOV (Intelligent Negotiation for Optimum Voltage) power management algorithm. This enables Qualcomm to do real time thermal management which optimises charging by automatically deciding and selecting the optimal power transfer for a given thermal state. Qualcomm also announced the measures it is taking to ensure there is no untoward incident pertaining to battery charging. Keeping the exploding battery phenomenon seen in phones such as the Galaxy Note 7, Qualcomm has added some safety features to both charging adapter and mobile device. On the adapter front, Qualcomm offers over-voltage, over-current and over-temperature protections. On the device side, it provides power regulation inside it, three levels of current and voltage protections and four levels of temperature protection. Qualcomm has employed new power management integrated circuits (PMICs) SMB1380 and SMB1381, to help with quick charging functionality.  Google had recently announced changes as far as using proprietary fast charging standards went. Also according to Qualcomm, Quick Charge 4 not only supports USB PD technology, but also offers additional features to it. The chart above shows how Qualcomm calls Quick Charge 4 as a superset of USB PD standard. Devices supporting Quick Charge 4 are expected to be launched in the first half of 2017. Disclaimer: This correspondent was invited by Qualcomm India to New York for the Snapdragon Technology Summit. All travel and accommodation expenses were taken care of by Qualcomm India.