Fast charging has come a long way, taking us from times when a full charge would take overnight, to a place where we can reasonably expect most of our phone’s battery to refill in an hour.
Faster charging speeds of up to and above 100W have been largely relegated to special cases, using proprietary technology, like OnePlus’s SUPERVOOC charger. But that era might be coming to an end, as Xiaomi has announced it has created a phone with 100W charging on universal USB PD PPS charging (via Android Authority). This is a massive development, as it means super-fast charging could become far more commonplace, and could even be on your next smartphone.
100W means a full recharge in less than an hour
Super-fast charging for the masses
The announcement comes from a Weibo post by Xiaomi, where it was confirmed that the new Xiaomi 17 phones are fully capable of reaching 100W of charging using both Xiaomi’s official chargers, and third-party chargers with support for 100W PPS charging.
Previous Xiaomi phones, like the Xiaomi 15 Pro, have supported super-fast charging speeds of up to 90W, but only when using Xiaomi’s own chargers. When using other chargers, charging speeds dropped to a much less notable 27W. But now, thanks to universal 100W charging speeds, Xiaomi claims it can recharge its newest phones to full in just 40 minutes. That’s an impressive boast too, given rumors say the Xiaomi 17 Pro Max may have a massive 7,500mAh battery.
But it’s true that many in the west won’t be likely to get their hands on the new Xiaomi phone, so should people who chiefly buy Samsung, Apple, or Motorola phones really care? The answer is yes. Xiaomi opening this particular door has left the way open for other manufacturers to follow suit and start getting much faster charging rates on their phones. Many of the biggest selling phone brands have rather slow charging by international standards, with Samsung’s flagships topping out at a relatively sluggish 45W, or even 25W. Recent rumors say the new S26 flagships may get 60W charging, but even that pales in comparison to 100W charging.
Fast charging has many benefits — you can comfortably include a larger battery, since it doesn’t mean longer charging, and it also means users have much less downtime without their precious phone. On the downside, it’s possible that such high recharge rates could damage phone batteries if not set up well — which would likely be the reason some larger brands shy away from the idea. And after Samsung’s Note 7 debacle, is it any wonder companies step carefully around battery health?
