This bit of news comes from Twitter, where Andrei Frumusanu published a tweet on Twitter and stated that fast charging degrades battery by 20% more compared to 15W fast charging. That’s a huge hit to the battery longevity if you want to use the phone for a long period of time.
Andrei Frumusanu is from the highly-reputable site AnandTech, who also discovered the whole issue where MediaTek is cheating in benchmarks. Within this tweet, he cites that OPPO, the pioneer of fast-charging for smartphones, were the ones who admitted and provided the numbers.
https://twitter.com/andreif7/status/1258660944877694978
Harsh words aside, retaining only 70% battery capacity by using 40W chargers compared to retaining 90% battery capacity by using 15W charger is a huge difference. We don’t specifically know how many charge cycles tested in this experiment, but we can predict that this effect is noticeable in about a year or so.
Andrei also posted a follow-up tweet saying that this is a well-known issue, and that’s why brands like Apple and Samsung are not actively pursuing high-wattage chargers for phones.
https://twitter.com/andreif7/status/1258858926176681984
It is also why it is worth highlighting that up until today, only Samsung smartphones have the option in software to deliberately disable fast charging. That locks down the charging speed to 10W even though it is connected to a high-powered charger.
I just want to say – I told you so. 2 years ago, we published this article where we graphed out multiple different smartphones when charged using multiple different wattages of chargers. In that article, we see how the charging curve is not linear and the charging speed is not linear either. A 40W charger doesn’t mean the charging speed is half of the time taken by a 20W charger. And it hurts your battery in the long run.
Experiment – Difference Between Smartphone Chargers & How They Affect You
I have been using a Samsung phone as my daily driver for years – and I have exclusively used fast charging only when I need it. I still use a standard 5V 2A charger and charge it overnight, every night.
This is also why we always argue that having a larger battery but with a slower charger is better than having a smaller battery with faster charging. I can charge less so that the charge cycles can be kept low, and I don’t want to lug around a power bank either.
It’s also not worth to change the battery every so often because it’s a tedious, expensive task. Batteries are getting more difficult to replace and there’s a risk whereby the loss of water resistance can happen. It is especially dangerous for those who seek unauthorized service centers to change the battery. Let’s not forget the potential dangers of 3rd party batteries too.
UPDATE: OPPO provided their numbers
I truly love data, and solid numbers are the most believable. OPPO provided further clarification on what devices were tested and how many cycles they were charged and discharged.
The data provided is based on the battery degradation test using 65W fast-charging technology on the OPPO Reno Ace2 and also the OPPO Find X2 series. Both of these devices are using the latest SuperVOOC 2.0.
OPPO also provided two sets of data – the first set of data is the result of OPPO’s own in-house testing, whereby the second set of data is tested by TÜV Rheinland, a third-party agency.
|
OPPO In-house Testing |
|||||
| Recharge Cycle | Device 1 | Device 2 | Device 3 | Device 4 | Average Maximum Charge |
| 100 | 97.9% | 97.8% | 97.9% | 97.8% | 97.8% |
| 300 | 94.1% | 94.2% | 94.1% | 94.5% | 94.1% |
| 500 | 92.9% | 92.8% | 92.4% | 92.1% | 92.4% |
| 600 | 92.0% | 92.0% | 92.2% | 91.8% | 91.8% |
| 800 | 91.1% | 91.1% | 91.2% | 91.1% | 91.1% |
|
TÜV Rheinland Testing |
||||
| Recharge Cycle | Device 1 | Device 2 | Device 3 | Average Maximum Charge |
| 150 | 95.2% | 94.9% | 94.8% | 94.8% |
| 300 | 94.1% | 94.2% | 94.5% | 94.1% |
| 600 | 91.5% | 91.9% | 92.3% | 91.5% |
By looking at both the tables, OPPO’s 65W SuperVOOC 2.0 chargers are compliant with industry standards. Within 10% of battery degradation is certainly within user expectation too.
We’re in communication with OPPO to further clarify some of the questions that we have. We’ll continue updating this article when we have the information.
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