Xiaomi has launched its new 11T series of smartphones with the range-leading 11T Pro promising super-fast charging that'll get a battery from 0 to 100 percent in just 17 minutes.
The Chinese tech giant is the world's third largest smartphone provider but only has around 2.8 percent of the New Zealand mobile market, according to statcounter's figures for August.
Unfortunately for Kiwis who want or need lightning-quick juicing of their phones, the impressive charging claims of 'Xiaomi HyperCharge' are unlikely to be the trigger needed to help reduce the lead of Apple, Samsung, Huawei and Oppo in the Aotearoa market.
The 120W charger is unlikely to come to New Zealand. A contributing factor for this relates to the stringent electrical safety regulations for such a charger here in New Zealand, a Xiaomi spokesperson told Newshub.
As well as the 17-minute full charge, in just 10 minutes the phone is said to charge to over 70 percent with its 120W maximum charge speed, which will be the fastest ever offered to smartphone consumers.
The 11T Pro has a 5000mAh battery, made up of two 2500mAh battery banks, doubling the available input. The company claims its 'LiquidCool' technology allows quick heat dissipation to ensure charging is efficient and the device won't get too hot.
One of the concerns with fast charging has always been the impact on battery life, with slower charging causing less degradation issues over the same period of use.
However, Xiaomi says the new 11T Pro battery is designed to retain up to 80 percent of its original capacity at 800 complete charge cycles. For people who charge their phones once per day, that means two years and two months.
That claim makes the 11T Pro's long-term performance better than Apple's, which says a normal battery is designed to retain up to 80 percent of its original capacity at 500 complete charge cycles, when operating under normal conditions.
Apple's lithium-ion batteries use fast charging to each 80 percent of its capacity, then switch to slower "trickle charging" to preserve the life of the battery.
But for Apple, 'fast charging' is done at a maximum of 20W with its iPhone 8 and newer models, including the upcoming iPhone 13. The US tech giant says users can expect iPhones to charge from 0 to 50 percent battery in around 30 minutes.
And with iOS 13 and later, Optimised Battery Charging delays charging phones past 80 percent in certain situations to "reduce the wear on your battery and improve its lifespan by reducing the time your iPhone spends fully charged".
Samsung offers adaptive fast charging for its S21 series of smartphones, which needs to be turned on in the device settings. While the S20 Ultra offered 45W charging with the purchase of a separate charging device, the S21 range only offers a maximum charging speed of 25W.
Website SamMobile speculates that the decision to reduce the maximum speed was due to less people buying the separate charger and Samsung believing the 45W speed wasn't enticing enough for customers.
The two other phones in the new Xiaomi range - the 11T and the 11 Lite - don't have the 120W fast charging system. However those devices will still come with a 67W fast charging system will get the 11T battery fully charged in a still impressive 37 minutes.
The 67W fast charging was previously available on the Mi 11 Ultra, the company's flagship phone released earlier this year. Previously, 120W charging was only available on the China-only Mi 10 Ultra.
A release date and NZ pricing of the Xiaomi 11T range of phones in Aotearoa remains unconfirmed, the spokesperson said.
