A smartphone with 200W charging could be on the way

Xiaomi announced 200W charging technology roughly a year ago, promising the fastest charging speeds yet. The company didn’t disclose when we’d see the first commercial phones with this tech though, and it sounds like a fellow Chinese brand might beat it to the punch.

Veteran tipster Digital Chat Station claimed on Weibo that the yet-to-be-announced Iqoo 10 Pro smartphone will be equipped with 200W charging capabilities. Check out a screenshot of the machine-translated post below.

Iqoo is Vivo’s performance-focused sub-brand, and it typically launches new mainline flagships roughly every six months. The Iqoo 9 series was launched globally in early 2022, so we’re guessing the Iqoo 10 Pro will be revealed in the next few months.

There’s no word on other details, but Xiaomi’s previously disclosed 200W charging details give us a broad idea of what to expect. Xiaomi said that its tech enables a 4,000mAh battery to be charged in just eight minutes. The Iqoo 8 Pro and Iqoo 9 Pro offer a 4,500mAh and 4,700mAh battery respectively, so 200W charging here will take a little longer in theory.

Xiaomi’s 200W solution results in the battery degrading to just above 80% of its capacity after 800 charging cycles (just over two years). We therefore wouldn’t be surprised if Iqoo’s tech offers a similar rate of battery degradation. Here’s to more brands taking a page out of Oppo’s book and offering ultra-fast charging that takes 1,600 cycles (over four years) to reach 80% capacity.