Xiaomi just beat Apple to AirPower

Xiaomi recently released a wireless charging pad, that can charge 3 devices at up to 20 watts simultaneously. It bears a striking resemblance to Apple's AirPower concept, and acts exactly like it's counterpart. It has 19 copper charging coils, allowing a device charge being placed almost anywhere on the pad.

Unlike most wireless charging pads, this one is a little affordable, listing at around $90. Though, we can't say for sure if this will be retailed outside of China.

According to Xiaomi, this AirPower clone will be compatible with any QI enabled device, and unfortunately that excludes the Apple Watch.

Xiaomi released a 80 Watt fast charger concept, too

Whilst they're AirPower-like announcement, they also stated they had a 80 Watt fast charger. They also claim this alien-looking contraption can charge a phone in as little as 19 minutes.

The mobile device maker said it can charge a 4,000 mAh battery to 10% in one minute. If this is true, then they can succeed any other fast charging system in the market. This is a major step up from any other conventional mobile charger, which usually tops out at around 30 watts. The fastest phone charger released to date is the Oppo Reno Ace, with an impressive maximum speed of 65 watts. This means it can juice up a 4,000 mAh phone it 31 minutes, hypothetically.

Of course, it's naturally unknown whether or not these chargers will ship with their respective flagship devices. But the Chinese brand does boast that this beast will be the fastest in the market when it is released. The Mi 10 Ultra was able to get 50 watts of charging, comparable to 45 with Samsung's Note 20 Ultra. The Mi 10 Ultra did have a 4,500 mAh battery, charging it in 40 minutes. For some context, anything above 18 watts is is considered fast charging.

Those impressive numbers do not imply that Xiaomi does not have competition. Earlier in 2020, Oppo announced a 120 watt fast charger for commercial use, which allegedly can refill most batteries in under 25 minutes. By comparison, Apple's MagSafe charge an iPhone with up to 15 watts of power.

80 watts does not come without any conflicts, however

Whenever something uses a lot of electricity, it always generates heat. Examples include: lightning, CPUs and GPUs, as well as batteries. Whenever batteries charge very quickly, they always heat up. And what degrades batteries? Heat.

Batteries degrade and corrode faster whenever under stress, or when exposed to heat. Most electric cars have a water cooling system for their battery packs to counteract this, but unfortunately mobile phones do not. Samsung has utilized the next best thing: Adaptive fast charging. The way it works is that it uses more Watts the more drained your phone is. For an example, if your Samsung device is at 9%, then the Fast Charger will use 45 watts. But if your device is somewhere around 91%, the charger will charge at around 15 watts. Most devices that charge with a lot of power generally use this method. This works, and help reduce battery aging.

Xiaomi most likely will use this method, too. Based on the design of the charger, it may have a cooling system inside. This system looks a little bulky, and isn't a normal plug-in cable. It seems that this is a stand-charger, but if it was wireless it could not achieve 80 watts advertised charging speed.

The stand itself might cool down the phone with tech we've seen before, such as in the Asus Rog Phone lineup.

The phone has a cooler accessory that uses electric active cooling system. It has an electric pad inside that pulls heat from one side, and puts all the heat on another side. That fan you see in the image above is actually to cool down the opposite side of the electric pad, not the phone itself.

But who's to say any of that, we don't even know if Xiaomi will cancel this at the last minute like AirPower.