Last April, details of OnePlus’ new ‘Warp Charge 30 Wireless‘ leaked ahead of the launch of the OnePlus 8 series. The smartphone maker responded by dropping a blog post that outlined the whole system in detail. While details about the OnePlus 9 series’ Warp Charge system haven’t leaked to the same degree, OnePlus has shared a blog post outlining everything new with the system.
Along with the OnePlus blog post, The Verge published an article detailing the new system, confirming that it works “down to the minute.”
The big claim from OnePlus with this year’s wireless Warp Charge system is that it supports up to 50W charging on the OnePlus 9 Pro and can charge the phone from one to 100 percent in just 43 minutes. That’s a crazy speed boost compared to the OnePlus 8 Pro, which used 30W wireless charging to get to 50 percent in 30 minutes. Unfortunately, the OnePlus 9 doesn’t offer super-fast wireless charging capabilities, although it does support Qi wireless up to 15W (as does the 9 Pro).
OnePlus also improved on its wireless charger, which now includes two coils so users can charge their phone vertically or horizontally. Plus, OnePlus made the charger’s cable detachable after receiving feedback about the original charger.
For those who aren’t fans of wireless charging (or for those who choose the base OnePlus 9 instead of the Pro), the OnePlus 9 series offers 65W wired charging too. OnePlus says this can take the battery from empty to full in just 29 minutes.
How it works, and why
Like the OnePlus 8T, the OnePlus 9 uses a ‘twin-cell’ battery design and charges each cell at 25W simultaneously. The company chose to use a higher voltage for charging, which reduces heat compared to solutions that increase amps. As a reminder from last year, OnePlus explained when it launched Warp Charge 30 Wireless that ‘amps x volts = watts,’ so by manipulating this formula the company was able to increase the rate of charging without increasing heat.
Increasing voltage comes with its own set of problems, however. To protect the phone, OnePlus uses proprietary charging pumps inside the phone to convert the power to something safe for the device. With the OnePlus 9 Pro, the company says the battery cells feature a lower internal resistance, which helps reduce heat during charging. Additionally, the company increased the thickness of the coils inside the phone by 10 percent and switched to a customized cable to help with heat dissipation. Finally, the OnePlus 9 Pro features improved cooling systems like a larger vapour chamber.
Combined, all these things allow the OnePlus 9 Pro to almost double the wireless charging speed of the 8 Pro while maintaining the same temperature.
OnePlus COO and head of R&D, Kinder Liu, told The Verge that fast charging is an important part of OnePlus devices and has been a hit with customers since the company introduced it on the OnePlus 3. It’s part of why it took so long for wireless charging to come to OnePlus devices — the company wanted to make wireless fast enough to fit with the high-speed charging brand it had created.
Those interested can learn more about the new 50W wireless Warp Charge on OnePlus’ website.
