With the launch of OnePlus’ special edition smartphone ‘OnePlus 6T McLaren Edition’, the Chinese smartphone maker has unveiled its latest fast charging technology called ‘Warp Charge 30 technology’.
In a post on its forum, OnePlus has gone on to explain what this fast charging technology entails. OnePlus claims that with 30 watts, Warp Charge 30 is its fastest charging tech ever, which can give the OnePlus 6T McLaren Edition a day's power in just 20 minutes.
Explaining the nomenclature ‘Warp 30’, it says, “Just think about science fiction. If you’re a fan of space movies, you can see why we chose this name to describe our ridiculously fast charging technology. Once those pilots punch the warp speed button, the universe flashes by in a blur.” While 30, comes from the 30 watts of power.
How does it work?
Like Fast Charge, OnePlus says that the Warp Charge 30 can carry a larger current than regular fast charging solutions.
“Normally, the heat generated through charging is dissipated in the phone itself. This usually causes performance issues if the phone is being used while it’s being charged, leading to CPU and GPU speeds being throttled,” the company says.
But what about overheating?
This problem is taken care of by shifting the majority of the power management and heat dispersion to the Warp Charge 30 Adapter and very little heat ever reaches the phone.
“The Warp Charge 30’ Power Adapter's power all goes to a single cell. The large amount of power it produces inevitably generates a large amount of heat.
OnePlus says that safety mechanisms of the battery assembly had to be altered in the McLaren Edition to support the additional increase in power. The components of the battery’s protection structure too, it says had to be upgraded with the addition of an 8-layer protection board to the battery to provide more efficient cooling.
This is also why the company didn’t include this technology in the OnePlus 6T, which was launched hardly a month before the McLaren Edition.
Now that it has introduced this new technology, will it be compatible with other OnePlus smartphones?
Maybe not.
The power adapter that comes with the OnePlus 6T McLaren Edition is backwards compatible with other OnePlus devices. However, when used with the OnePlus 3 through to the OnePlus 6T, the Warp Charge 30 Power Adapter will charge at regular Fast Charge speeds, not Warp Charge 30 speeds.
And since the key to the lightening fast charging capability in the technology is the power adapter, OnePlus says that any OnePlus Fast Charge Type-C cables will be compatible with Warp Charge 30 while charging the OnePlus 6T McLaren Edition. This means that if the McLaren Edition is charged using a regular type C cable plugged to the Warp Charge 30 Power Adapter, it will charge at the speed promised by OnePlus.
“At the same time, you can use your Fast Charge Power Adapter to charge your OnePlus 6T McLaren Edition, but it will charge at Fast Charge speeds only,” OnePlus adds.