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Qualcomm Quick Charge 4.0 announced with more efficient features

Nick PapanikolopoulosJune 2, 2017

Qualcomm announced earlier today its Quick Charge 4.0 technology giving more technical specifications regarding its features and its improvements.

The aforementioned technology was initially introduced during the Snapdragon 835 unveiling and comes as a significant update to the previous standard since both can be used on the same chipset. According to Qualcomm, all Quick Charge 4 devices can switch to the new standard if their manufacturers decide to include 3 features:

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Dual Charge is similar to an earlier version of Quick Charge, but according to Qualcomm it is now “more powerful”.
Intelligent Thermal Balancing: this is what steers current through the less used charging pathway to keep temperatures of the chipset and the device down.
Advanced Safety Feature: it’s a fail-safe that monitors both the phone and the connector temperature to prevent overheating and short-circuit damage.

According to Qualcomm all new Quick Charge 4 compatible devices will be able to charge 15% faster and 30% more efficiently. We have to mention that this QC 4.0 feature is not software related but hardware. This means that so far the only smartphone that supports it is the newly announced ZTE Nubia Z17 model.

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About the author

Nick Papanikolopoulos
With some little over 20 years of experience in the Mobile Technology sector Nick is the EIC of Gizchina.com. He has a Masters’ degree in Wireless & Wired Telecommunications, Electrical Engineering and Computer Informatics and a PhD in Mobility QoS Measuring Techniques.
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Filipp
June 2, 2017
QC 3.0 is enough
the only huge advantage of QC4 is that it is PD compatible, ready to charge notebooks
- netsurfer912
  June 2, 2017
  That’s the point. It’s why I want QC4 in Powerbanks to charge my Mi Notebook using PD and to quickly charge my phone from any PD charger.
  They made the right call building on top of PD instead of duplicating all features.

Jay
June 2, 2017
Qualcomm’s release talks about Quick Charge 4+, where the article (and title included) discusses 4.0! Note that the SD835 chipset already supports QC4.0.
Filipp
June 2, 2017
QC 3.0 is enough
the only huge advantage of QC4 is that it is PD compatible, ready to charge notebooks
- netsurfer912
  June 3, 2017
  That’s the point. It’s why I want QC4 in Powerbanks to charge my Mi Notebook using PD and to quickly charge my phone from any PD charger.
  They made the right call building on top of PD instead of duplicating all features.

vog
June 2, 2017
True. It’s 4.0 + ; Quick charge 4.0 is available since SD835 introduction even if most phones using SD835 only implements QC 2.0 (Samsung I think) or 3.0 (Sony).
- netsurfer912
  June 2, 2017
vog
June 2, 2017
The main advantage of 4.0 ( it looks like 4.0+ ads additional features) is that is compatible with USB-C charging specifications so it’s not only Qualcomm specific. Google only supports the USB-C specs (see Pixel phones) compatibility is a good thing always so you can use a fast charger with different devices. Right now if no match found (there are other incompatible modes) the charger will only work in standard mode , same as a PC USB port.
- netsurfer912
  June 2, 2017

Jay
June 2, 2017
Qualcomm’s release talks about Quick Charge 4+, where the article (and title included) discusses 4.0! Note that the SD835 chipset already supports QC4.0.
Guest
June 2, 2017
True. It’s 4.0 + ; Quick charge 4.0 is available since SD835 introduction even if most phones using SD835 only implements QC 2.0 (Samsung I think) or 3.0 (Sony).
- netsurfer912
  June 3, 2017
Guest
June 2, 2017
The main advantage of 4.0 ( it looks like 4.0+ ads additional features) is that is compatible with USB-C charging specifications so it’s not only Qualcomm specific. Google only supports the USB-C specs (see Pixel phones) compatibility is a good thing always so you can use a fast charger with different devices. Right now if no match found (there are other incompatible modes) the charger will only work in standard mode , same as a PC USB port.
- netsurfer912
  June 3, 2017