The charging benchmarks set by Android phones are quite astounding — with some phones being able to charge at 200 watts. If that wasn’t enough, a new Android phone takes it up a notch.
Xiaomi’s newly launched smartphone, the Redmi Note 12 Explorer, brings 210W charging, which is the fastest on any smartphone we’ve seen to date. The proprietary charging tech charges the phone to 66 percent in five minutes and up to 100 percent in about nine minutes. This is extremely impressive considering that the flagship offerings from the likes of Apple and Google take close to two hours for a complete charge.
Power Delivery (PD), which is a common charging standard across USB devices, supports up to 240W of power to charge various gadgets. The standard prescribes 50V at 5A. However, Xiaomi’s charging tech keeps the voltage low at 20W and divides the electricity into three channels of 70W each (20V at 3.5A each). For safety measures, the channels are built to sustain up to 100W of power.
If you’re guessing that Xiaomi uses a massive charger for the same, that’s actually wrong. Thanks to GaN technology, the charger is fairly small in size; it measures 67.3 x 64.3 x 30mm. For those unaware, Gallium Nitride (or GaN) is a material that produces less heat while charging — thus allowing chargers to be more compact, lightweight, and energy-efficient than regular silicon-based chargers.
The supplied USB cable has an E-mark chip, without which the charger cannot attain its full potential. In the case of the Redmi Note 12 Explorer, the charger can spit out 210W power, however, with other devices, it can only do 65W via USB-PD.
While this charging tech is undeniably impressive, it’s unlikely that we will see it in the U.S. anytime soon. We say that because Chinese smartphone brands like Xiaomi do not operate in the U.S. The best we’ve seen for U.S. handsets is the OnePlus 10T, which tops out at 125W charging. That’s still impressive, but it’s a far cry from Xiaomi’s 210W.
The state of other flagship phones — such as the Galaxy S22 Ultra, Pixel 7 Pro, and iPhone 14 Pro Max — is even worse. There isn’t a lot of expectation from U.S. smartphone giants for charging speed, even as brands outside of the U.S. keep pushing the envelope further.
Are you tired of paying for streaming services you never watch just to get a phone plan feature you actually want? T-Mobile has good news for you! The carrier is rolling out new plans, called T-Mix, in early November to replace its old Experience lineup with a build-your-own perks system called Picks.
The benefits you choose vary from streaming and gaming to food delivery, AI, satellite service, and phone discounts. But if you are satisfied with your existing plan, you can keep it.
Merely days after the iPhone Duo hit the shelves, images of broken screens on the phone started popping up across social media. Until now, it’s been unclear what’s causing the line of defective pixels that appears vertically along the crease, as well as horizontally, on the phone’s inner display.
Apple has finally acknowledged the issue, which has shown up on iPhone Duo units owned by customers as well as demo units in stores. In a statement shared with Bloomberg, Apple says that not all iPhone Duo units are affected and that those that are tend to show the display fault early on. The company added that users who experience problems with their iPhone Duo display should contact AppleCare for a replacement.
Not long ago, Apple treated independent repair like an act of outright hostility. The Cupertino giant locked down parts with serial-number pairing, while repair tools remained firmly out of reach of anyone outside its authorized repair network. More importantly, the company waged a legal and lobbying battle against right-to-repair legislation.
I've covered enough of these fights over the years to know what a shift looks like. That's why what happened in October 2026 genuinely caught me off guard. The day the iPhone Duo went on sale, what may be the most mechanically complex iPhone to date, Apple pulled off a surprising about-face. It published teardown-style repair manuals for a handful of major components.