Everything for autonomy!
According to our survey, you are a huge majority — 92%! — to prefer good battery life to fast charging of your smartphone. A more than clear-cut opinion which, let’s face it, surprises us a little. Indeed, a few years ago, batteries had a ridiculous autonomy and fast charging was just wishful thinking. Today, the situation has clearly changed. The autonomy of a smartphone is generally more than correct and the fast charge very effective in saving time. We thought (wrongly therefore) that fast charging would be a more important criterion for you. It may suffer from a bad reputation, that of weakening the health of accumulators.
Beyond the power of the chargers, it is the voltage that must be taken into account. “The higher the voltage of a charger, the more complicated it is for the battery to manage, underlines Olivier Simon. Today, manufacturers try to apply the highest amperage with the lowest voltage, and thus increase the durability of the batteries”. For the moment, no study comes to corroborate these statements.
DxOMark is currently working on the subject and the case will be followed up in 2022. However, to benefit from efficient fast charging, it is advisable to use the charger offered by the manufacturer, because beyond the power delivered, the chargers communicate with smartphones to optimize charging. Communication that can be complicated, if not impossible, with a “classic” charger. A smartphone that accepts fast charging up to 66 W can thus very well limit the power to 10 W with the latter. “It’s often for security reasons, explains Olivier Simon. The faster the charge, the more the phone will ask to know what it is using for charging. Sometimes, it will have to be able to recognize the charger, but also the cable to be sure to pass a high amperage without taking any risks.”