Qualcomm's new Quick Charge 4+ is 15% faster than QC4

Qualcomm is continuing to evolve its charging standard, unveiling Quick Charge 4+ just 6 months after it unveiled Quick Charge 4. The new Quick Charge 4+ standard has some impressive new enhancements for new smartphones.

Quick Charge 4+ doesn't require a new chipset, and instead accessory manufacturers can add in the new enhancements to Quick Charge 4 capable devices:

• "Dual Charge," which is already an option in earlier version of Quick Charge, but is "now more powerful"
• "Intelligent Thermal Balancing," which steers current through whichever of the dual charging pathways is coolest to keep temperatures down
• "Advanced Safety Features" to monitor both the phone temperature and the connector temperature to protect against overheating and short-circuit damage

Qualcomm have said that Quick Charge 4+ devices can charge 15% faster than QC4, and they'll charge up to 30% more efficiently. Better yet, charging will be 3C cooler (5F or so). We won't see these features with a software patch into existing devices, as they're hardware enhancements.