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4 months ago
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There's nothing more frustrating than noticing your phone is about to die just as you're about to leave the house.
But that inconvenience could soon be a thing of the past as smartphone maker Realme reveals a charger that can power up your smartphone in just five minutes.
The Chinese tech manufacturer's new SuperSonic Charge Technology can juice up a phone with up to 320W of power - that's 16 times more than a standard iPhone charger.
At an event this week, the company demonstrated how it could charge a 4,420mAh battery in four minutes and 30 seconds.
Unfortunately, Realme is yet to release a smartphone that can handle that much power so there may be some time before you can fully charge your phone while you make a cup of tea.
Waiting for your phone to charge may be a thing of the past as Chinese tech firm Realme reveals a charger that can power your smartphone in just five minutes
The company showcased its latest advances in fast-changing technology att Realme's 828 Fanfest event in Shenzhen.
After being connected to power for just one minute the smartphone reached 26 per cent charge and had hit 50 per cent in less than two minutes.
For a smartphone with a battery just a little smaller than the new Pixel 9, that means going from a dead battery to full power in less than five minutes.
This impressive feat is possible due to significant improvements in both the charger and the battery itself.
Early last year, Realme set the record for the fastest charging smartphone with the GT Neo 5 which could charge in nine and a half minutes thanks to a 240W charger.
The company's latest 'Pocket Cannon' power adapter can provide a maximum of 320w of power to a compatible device.
At Realme's 828 Fanfest event in Shenzhen, the company demonstrated how they could charge a phone from 1 per cent to 100 per cent in four and a half minutes
The SuperSonic Charge technology uses a power adaptor which provides 320W (pictured). That is 16 times more power than a standard iPhone charger
The charger features two USB-C ports which can also be used to send 150W to Realme's smartphones and 65W to devices like laptops.
For comparison, the iPhone 15 and 15 Plus can only charge reliably at a maximum of 20W which gives a 50 per cent charge in around half an hour.
Realme says it is able to avoid burning out the battery thanks to the 'AirGap' voltage transformer which ensures the current reaches the phone at only 20 volts.
According to Realme, this uses a technology called 'contact-free electromagnetic conversion' to ensure the power supply can charge at 93 per cent power efficiency.
The other key innovation is Realme's new battery which uses four separate cells, each of which can charge simultaneously.
Manufacturers like Apple and Samsung generally opt for single-cell batteries because these offer more power storage in a compact space.
The 'Pocket Cannon' charger is paired with a new battery design which reduces the charging speed significantly. Pictured: tech fans crowd to take photos of the new charger and battery
However, despite using multiple cells Realme still claims to be offering a bigger battery than the iPhone 15's 3,349mAh of storage.
According to a promotional video shared by the company, this is thanks to a folded battery design inspired by satellite solar panels.
A company spokesperson says: 'First we ingeniously miniaturized each battery cell into layered structures to maximise space utilisation to achieve higher capacity.
'Second, we folded four battery cells in the shape of satellite panels and connected them with flexible charging board.'
The resulting battery is also flexible which means that it could potentially be used in a future folding smartphone design.
Realme says its battery uses four battery cells which can all charge simultaneously to achieve faster charge times and a greater capacity
With a capacity of 4,420mAh, Realme's new battery has a similar charge size to the new Google Pixel 9 (pictured) but can charge in only a fraction of the time
After setting the record for the fastest charging smartphone early last year, Realme's record was soon broken by Redmi, another Chinese phone maker.
Less than a month after Realme set the record, Redmi, which is a subsidiary company of Xiaomi, announced that it had developed a 300W charger.
In demonstrations, Xiaomi's new technology was able to charge a 4,100mAh battery in about five minutes.
However, neither Xioami nor Realme are yet to release phones that actually include these new battery designs.
A spokesperson for Realme told MailOnline that they had no 'official information' regarding whether this would be used in any new devices.
Realme has also not hinted as to when the technology might be rolled out more widely so it could be a significant wait until five-minute charging is commercially available.
