The only thing worse than your phone running out of battery is being tethered to a wall or portable charger when you’re waiting for it to fill back up. Advancements in charging take some of the sting out of the problem with tech like Apple’s Fast Charge being able to get your iPhone up to a workable 50 percent charge in 30 minutes. But a new variety of ultrafast charging demoed by Chinese phonemaker Vivo appears to be able to charge a phone’s full 4,000 mAh battery from empty to full in just 13 minutes.
The feature is called FlashCharge and makes use of 120W charging tech to get its almost magical results. A short demonstration video posted to Chinese social networking site Weibo by a Vivo executive shows the phone’s charge percentage racing upwards almost as fast as the time on the stopwatch next to it.
While the demo is impressive, there are a few caveats to to consider. The video only illustrates a few seconds of charging, so it’s unclear if that rate can hold up for a full charge. Also, that lightning fast charging would only be possible with a charger rated to dish out this absurd amount of power. Last but not least, Vivo is a Chinese company whose products, like the NEX shown above, aren’t widely available in the United States, and the two countries have an increasingly sour trade relationship.
The good news is that this bonkers rate of charge is possible, and it seems inevitable that it’ll eventually be available in the phones you’ll actually have the chance to buy. Sure, phone batteries are always destined to degrade over time, but if you can fill them up in less than 15 minutes’ time, maybe it’s not so bad.
Gear Patrol also recommends:
Maluokasa 2-in1 Wireless Charging Pad ($26)
Nomad Base Station ($100)
Nomad Base Station, Apple Watch Edition ($140)
