Power banks are incredibly useful accessories that let you recharge your phone, tablet or other gadgets without needing to find a mains outlet. You can find them in all shapes and sizes, with varying levels of charging speed, capacity, ports and other features. Most recently, Qualcomm Power Banks have become a popular subcategory, offering faster charging speeds when used with compatible devices. In this article, we’ll show you how they work, which devices you can use them with and our favourite Qualcomm Power Banks. Let’s get right into it, shall we?
What is Quick Charge 2.0?
Qualcomm Power Banks are best understood by their full name: Qualcomm Quick Charge 2.0 Power Banks. Quick Charge 2.0 is a particular way of charging a device which uses higher voltages to charge more quickly. Where most standard chargers use 5V, Quick Charge 2.0 can use 9V or 12V instead to attain dramatically faster charging. Quick Charge 2.0 also includes support for higher amperages, with a maximum of 3A.
That combination reduces charging times substantially compared to Quick Charge 1.0 and conventional charging methods (as seen above). When charging a modern flagship phone (with a battery capacity of around 3,000 mAh), you can expect to go from 0 to 60% battery life in just 30 minutes of charging. That’s an absolute lifesaver when you only have limited time to charge; you can see why these chargers have become so popular!
Please check out our Guide to Quick Charge 2.0 for more information on the standard.
Which devices are compatible?
Most high-end Android smartphones these days use Qualcomm chipsets which include support for Quick Charge 2.0 – including the Galaxy S6, LG V10, Galaxy Note 5 and many more. Qualcomm themselves maintain a list of all supported devices with Quick Charge 2.0 capabilities (although at the time of writing, it is sadly about five months out of date).
In general, Quick Charge 2.0 is supported by Snapdragon 8xx processors, e.g. the Snapdragon 800, 801, 808 and 810. The same support is also found in Snapdragon 200, 400 and 615 processors. If you can find out your phone’s processor (e.g. by looking it up on GSMArena’s excellent phone database), then you can work out if you have Quick Charge 2.0 or not.
If your device isn’t on the list and you don’t know its processor, another easy way of finding out is to search Google for the name of your device and “Quick Charge 2.0”.
You can also ask us in the comments below or on social media, if you’re finding it difficult to get a definitive answer.
If your phone or tablet doesn’t support Quick Charge 2.0, sadly there’s no way to add it to your phone but you can look out for it when choosing your next model down the road!
Which Qualcomm Power Banks can I use?
All power banks that support the Quick Charge 2.0 standard will work with all phones, tablets and other gadgets that also support Quick Charge 2.0. That means there’s no difference between a first-party charger or cable and a third-party one; as long as both support the standard then you’ll get identical performance.
We’d like to recommend three such power banks, which offer a range of capacities and styles, while still providing rapid Quick Charge 2.0 charging on the go.
Aukey 10,000mAh Quick Charge 2.0 Power Bank
Our first example comes from Aukey, and it’s a svelte power bank that nonetheless manages to pack in a whopping 10,000mAh of capacity. That’s enough to charge most phones fully at least three times. This model can charge one device at a time, and is available at a very reasonable price.
Shop for the Aukey 10,000mAh Power Bank >
Aukey 12,000mAh Quick Charge 2.0 Power Bank
Next up we have another model from Aukey, with a slightly larger 2,000mAh capacity that allows it to charge most phones fully at least four times. This model also includes dual USB charging ports, allowing two devices to be recharged at once.
Shop for the Aukey 12,000mAh Power Bank >
Xtorm 12,000mAh Quick Charge 2.0 USB-C Power Bank
Our most advanced model is from Xtorm. It has the same capacity as our last model, 12,000mAh, and it also has two USB ports for charging. The difference is that it also includes a USB-C port, which allows it to easily charge USB-C devices like the Nexus 6P and 5X, OnePlus 2 and even the new MacBook. You can find out more about USB-C here.
Shop for the Xtorm 12,000mAh USB-C Power Bank >
Anything else?
As well as power banks, there are also Qualcomm Quick Charge 2.0 car chargers and mains chargers. You can find all of these at Mobile Fun, via the button below.
Shop for Qualcomm Quick Charge 2.0 chargers >
If you have any questions or comments about Quick Charge 2.0 and our Qualcomm Power Banks, please let us know in the comments below. You can also contact us on social media; we’re at twitter.com/mobilefun and facebook.com/mobilefun — easy to remember. Thanks for checking out the article and enjoy the rest of your week!