Google could never: New 320W fast charging gives you a full charge in 5 minutes

We’ve seen phones with 65W, 100W, and 120W charging speeds over the years, and Realme upped the ante last year when it announced a phone with 240W charging. The company isn’t stopping here, as it’s just announced a 320W wired charging solution.

Realme says its 320W charging tech can take a smartphone from zero to 100% in just four minutes and 30 seconds. By contrast, the company’s previous 240W solution promised a zero-to-100% charging time of nine and a half minutes.

For what it’s worth, our own Realme GT3 hands-on revealed that 240W charging actually took just under 15 minutes. So you should probably take the company’s 320W charging claims with a pinch of salt. There’s also no word on the battery capacity here.

Nevertheless, a video posted by the company (see the top of the article) also shows that you can get 26% capacity in just one minute and 50% juice in just under two minutes. That’s a pretty huge boost if you’re running late and forgot to charge your device before heading out.

The company says its new charging solution is made possible due to a folded battery design, featuring four cells folded into the shape of “satellite solar panels.” By contrast, some of the fastest-charging phones on the market use a dual-cell battery design.

There are still some unanswered questions about this tech, though. Perhaps the most important question is battery health, as ultra-fast charging solutions tend to degrade batteries at a faster rate than slower charging speeds. And the last thing you want is a 320W phone that can barely hold a charge a couple of years down the line. We’re also curious to see whether Realme actually plans to launch a commercial phone with this tech. We’ve asked the company about battery health and its commercial plans and will update the article accordingly.

There’s also a strong argument that 65W, 80W, or 100W charging is good enough for most people who want a phone with ultra-fast charging. After all, phones like the OnePlus 12 already offer a full charge in less than 30 minutes. So we’d definitely like to see manufacturers focus on sustained wattages over chasing higher peak figures.