Huawei's new fast-charging battery prototype can be charged in minutes, not hours

Huawei managed to charge their high-capacity battery by 50 per cent in only five minutes

Doug Bolton
Monday 16 November 2015 15:35 GMT
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There's no word yet on when Huawei's fast-charging batteries could hit the market
There's no word yet on when Huawei's fast-charging batteries could hit the market

Chinese electronics firm Huawei, which produces phones for Google, has created a prototype battery that can be recharged in minutes.

As smartphones have become more advanced, battery life has remained fairly low - most users, whether they're using iPhone or Android, are lucky to get a full day of use from a single charge.

But if Huawei's prototype batteries ever make it into production, the arduous task of charging your phone could become much easier.

One battery, a lower capacity version which isn't capable of properly powering a smartphone, was charged from almost zero to 68 per cent in just two minutes.

A larger capacity battery, which Huawei claims could provide up to 10 hours of talk time, went from zero to almost 50 per cent in five minutes.

By comparison, it takes an iPhone 6 Plus around three hours to fully charge.

Currently, battery life is a main limiting factor in smartphone technology - if a longer lasting, or quicker-charging battery were found, manufacturers could be able to make their devices more powerful.

Huawei says the battery is coated with a graphite-coated anode, which allows the battery to withstand the quick charge without its lifespan or capacity being damaged.


It will still be a while before the battery makes it into regular phones - currently, the battery has to be removed and inserted into a special brick power pack to charge, which is less practical than just plugging a cable into your device.

There's no word on when this battery could make it to the market, but the days of your phone struggling to make it through the morning commute could one day be over.

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