qualcomm announced in november that it will be releasing its next generation mobile system-on-a-chip (soc) processor, the sanpdragon 835, which will be built with samsung’s one-of-a-kind 10 nanometer finfet technology.

keith kressin, senior vice president, product management, qualcomm technologies inc. and ben suh, senior vice president, foundry marketing, samsung, show off the first 10 nanometer mobile processor, the snapdragon 835, in new york at the qualcomm snapdragon technology summit. (qualcomm)

as qualcomm noted in its announcement, the 10 nm processor has a smaller footprint that allows designers to include a larger battery or slimmer phone design without sacrificing processor power or speed. finfet technology, according to samsung, allows a 30- percent increase in area efficiency with a 27 percent improvement in performance.

this technology could have a significant improvement on battery life for mobile phones and with that in mind qualcomm also introduced its quick charge 4 for the sanpdragon 835. quick charge 4 is up to 20 percent faster than the previous iteration, 30 percent more efficient, and also charges at 5°c cooler than quick charge 3.

qualcomm said in its release that five minutes of charging could offer five hours of battery life for a smartphone. the release continued, “quick charge 4 is engineered to charge a typical smartphone from zero to 50 percent in about 15 minutes or less.” to assist with the fast charging, qualcomm has new pmics, smb1380 and 1381, which have low impedance, battery differential sensing, and real-time monitoring to support advanced thermal management.

an article about the announcement in forbes noted, “what's just as important as fast charging is safe charging within the limits of battery capabilities and for the best battery endurance over time… quick charge 4 also employs new features like cable quality detection and step charging, which allows the battery charge circuit to ramp up and then after a period back down temporarily, so as not to stress the battery under load over time.”

another article, this one in extreme tech, added that previous iterations of quick charge had a proprietary method of charging that could have been potentially dangerous to batteries over time by pushing more voltage with each revision of quick charge. this version meets usb standards.

the article continued, “if you’ve ever had to research chargers just to figure out which one will be able to rapidly charge your phone, this will come as a relief. the different bands of fast charging adapters should be more or less interoperable.”

the snapdragon 835 and the quick charge 4 are expected to start shipping in the next few weeks.