Understanding Different Charging Protocols

By Shaista Qadri

Understanding Different Charging Protocols

There are many different types of fast charging protocols such as OPPO’s open VOOC Flash Charge, OnePlus WARP / Dash , Realme DART charge, Qualcomm’s Quick Charge fast charging & PPS / PD Fast Charging. Some of these are proprietary ( Flash, Dash, Warp, Dart, VooC) & QC,while some are open platforms ( PD & PPS).

Nowadays, smart phones have quick charging between 18W to 65W power, with charge times going from 30 minutes to a little more than 60 minutes. Let’s broadly understand the differences.

Qualcomm’s Quick Charge QC3.0 / 4.0

Qualcomm’s QC Quick Charge is very familiar today & it is a representative of high-voltage fast charge. It was first launched in 2013 when the highest power was 10W (5V/2A). By Quick Charge 3.0, the power increased to 36W, & now it supports 200mV step voltage regulation, which is no longer a fixed set of voltage & current. Quick Charge 4.0 supports step voltage regulation down to 20mV and a current adjustment of 50mA. Moreover, it also supports USB PD+PPS.

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PD Fast Charging

PD fast charging, or Power Delivery fast charge, is a universal standard designed by the USB Implementers Forum (USB-IF) to deliver high-power through USB. Supported by various devices like smartphones, laptops, tablets, and appliances.

PD fast charge can provide up to 100 watts of power—significantly surpassing the typical 5 watts of standard USB chargers. This translates to a remarkable charging speed, allowing PD chargers to replenish a smartphone from zero to full in approximately an hour, a task that would take about three hours with a standard charger.

It is suitable for all types of devices beyond smartphones, including laptops, as they have a USB-C port. This is currently the most extensive charging protocol.

Currently, there are commonly USB PD 2.0, USB PD 3.0, & USB PD 3.0 (PPS), the former two belong to high-voltage fast charging, and the PPS of the latter belongs to a branch of PD 3.0, which is known as Programmable Power Supply. It incorporates Qualcomm QC, fast charging protocol, VOOC, & other fast charging protocols, supporting 20mV and 50mA step adjustments more accurately.

USB-PD is an open platform and is rapidly being adopted by many manufacturers.

iPhone Charge

The consistent use of the 20W Model A2305 adapter across multiple iPhone generations indicates Apple's commitment to a standardized charging experience. Whether it's the iPhone SE, iPhone 11 series, iPhone 12 series, or the latest iPhone 15 models, the 20W USB-C Power Adapter remains a key component in Apple's approach to delivering efficient and reliable charging for their devices.

Open VOOC Technology

VOOC Technology, used by OPPO and other affiliated brands like OnePlus and realme, offers swift charging across various devices. Even with different branding like OnePlus' Warp Charge and realme's Dart Charge, the underlying standards remain consistent. SuperVOOC chargers can often fast charge different brand devices. OPPO smartphones, from mid-range like OPPO K10 to premium options like the Reno series, support VOOC fast charging. For instance, the OPPO K10 achieves a 65-minute full charge with 33W SuperVOOC.

Premium mid-range models like Reno charge in just over half an hour with 80W SuperVOOC. Flagships like Find X5 Pro boast up to 80 watts, enhancing 0-50 charging times. The OnePlus 10 series has also embraced SuperVOOC technology, aligning with OPPO's commitment to speedy and efficient charging.

Huawei SuperCharge

Huawei's SuperCharge, an exclusive rapid charging tech, debuted in 2015, evolving through subsequent updates. Its unique blend of low voltage and high current swiftly and safely charges smartphones. With an impressive 66W power delivery, SuperCharge can fully charge a device in just over 30 minutes. Compatible with various Huawei smartphones like P50 Pro and Mate 40 Pro, it extends to other devices like laptops and tablets. Noteworthy is its exclusivity to Huawei products, making it unavailable for smartphones from other brands.

COMPARISON BETWEEN PPS, PD, QC, DASH, WARP AND VOOC

Programmable Power Supply (PPS)	Power Delivery (PD)	Quick Charge (QC)	Dash Charging	WARP Charging	VooC / Super VooC
Voltage & Current adjusted as per demand of Phone’s battery	Goes up to 100W	QC 3.0 allows 80% charge in 35 mins.	Provides 63% charge in 30 mins.	It goes 0 to 50% in 20 mins. Output ranges from 30W to 65W	Improved Speed & Safety, Offers varying outputs 25W & 50W outputs going upto 140W
Great Extending Battery Life	Works in sync with PPS as well	QC 3.0 is limited to Phones & Tablets. (18W)	Easy to perform high-intensity tasks	Full charge in less than an hour.	Low-voltage, fast-charging solution
Less Heat Generated. Goes upto a max of 45W	Up to 70% faster than a normal USB charger	QC 4.0 works on PD via Type-C (27W)	Removes alarming heat generated quickly	Heat gets dissipated in the adapter only	Five-minute charge provides hundred minutes of gaming or four-hours of video watching
More Flexibility	Ensures over-charging doesn’t take place	QC 5.0 allows 50% in 5 mins. (100W)	Designed for a mx output of 20W	For effective cooling, OnePlus 6T McLaren Edition has 8 layer protection board	Uses the highest level of multi-layered protection
Multiple Operating Modes	Laptops / Tablets / Phones/ Macbooks iPad Pro/ iPhone 13 & 14	One of the most mature protocols with a long-standing prestige.	Dash is a variant of Open VooC & used by OnePlus	WARP is a variant of Open VooC & used by OnePlus	Vivo’s Flash charge offers 33W Output
Most Commonly used by Samsung	Adopted by Apple

Frequently Asked Questions

What is Flash Charge (Flash Charging), and how is it different from fast charging?

Fast charging is the generic term for charging a device faster than conventional USB charging. “Flash Charge” is not one universal industry standard; it is mainly a marketing term used by different smartphone brands for their proprietary high-speed charging technologies. For example, OPPO calls its technology VOOC Flash Charge / SUPERVOOC, while other brands have used similar “FlashCharge” terminology. So, all Flash Charging is fast charging, but not all fast charging is Flash Charging.

What is SuperVOOC charging, and how does it work?

SUPERVOOC is OPPO's proprietary high-speed charging system and an evolution of VOOC. It typically achieves very high charging power by using relatively low voltage and very high current, with continuous communication between the charger, cable and phone. High-power versions also use technologies such as dual-cell battery architectures and charge pumps. A compatible SUPERVOOC charger, suitable high-current cable and compatible phone are required to obtain the full advertised speed. SUPERVOOC has appeared at many power levels, including 65W, 80W, 100W and higher.

What is VOOC charging, and what does VOOC stand for?

VOOC is OPPO's proprietary fast-charging technology, introduced in 2014. OPPO defines VOOC as “Voltage Open Loop Multi-step Constant-Current Charging.” The original system used a low-voltage/high-current approach; for example, early VOOC delivered 22.5W at 5V/4.5A. SUPERVOOC is essentially the higher-power evolution of VOOC.

What does "66W PD" mean, and what is PD / PPS charging?

If a charger genuinely specifies 66W USB PD, it means it can provide up to 66 watts through the USB Power Delivery protocol to a compatible device. PD = USB Power Delivery, an open USB-IF standard in which the charger and device communicate and negotiate the voltage/current they require. Modern USB PD can support power levels far beyond phones—USB PD 3.1 expanded the specification up to 240W. PPS = Programmable Power Supply, an optional feature of USB PD that allows the phone to request dynamically adjustable voltage/current rather than relying only on fixed voltage steps. This can improve efficiency, reduce heat and enable faster phone charging.

What are Warp, Dash and Dart charging, and how do they differ from SuperVOOC?

Dash Charge was OnePlus's earlier proprietary fast-charging name. It was followed by Warp Charge, initially at 30W and later 65W. Dart Charge / SuperDart was realme's fast-charging branding. These technologies come from the same broad low-voltage/high-current charging family associated with OPPO/VOOC technology, although implementations, authentication, cables, voltages and power levels can differ. OnePlus has subsequently moved much of its charging branding to SUPERVOOC itself. So Warp, Dash, Dart and SuperVOOC should not be treated as four fundamentally different charging principles; they are closely related branded implementations/generations, but full-speed cross-compatibility should never be assumed unless specified by the manufacturer. OnePlus confirms Dash was its earlier technology, followed by Warp, while newer OnePlus devices now use SUPERVOOC.

Does SuperVOOC support PD, and can I use a SuperVOOC charger on an iPhone or other phones?

SUPERVOOC itself is not USB PD. They are separate protocols. However, many modern SUPERVOOC chargers also support USB PD, PPS and sometimes QC. For example, OnePlus's 100W SUPERVOOC adapter separately supports SUPERVOOC 100W, USB PD 65W and PPS 63W. Such a charger can fast-charge an iPhone via USB PD at whatever maximum power the iPhone supports—it will not charge the iPhone at 100W SUPERVOOC. If a SUPERVOOC charger does not support USB PD, a non-SUPERVOOC phone will normally fall back to a slower compatible USB charging mode.

What is Qualcomm Quick Charge (QC 3.0), and how many watts is it?

Qualcomm Quick Charge 3.0 is a proprietary fast-charging protocol originally designed primarily for Qualcomm-powered mobile devices. It introduced INOV — Intelligent Negotiation for Optimum Voltage, allowing the phone to request voltages from approximately 3.6V to 20V in 200mV increments. QC 3.0 is frequently associated with 18W chargers, which became the most common implementation, but QC 3.0 itself should not technically be defined as “an 18W protocol.” Actual power depends on the charger and device implementation. It is backward compatible with QC 2.0/1.0.