There are advances each year for portable tech devices that we really on so much in our daily lives.
It’s interesting that these advances are done in increments and so they’re not noticeable at first, but they can add up over the years when the brand does make the improvements.
The best way to take a look at these upgrades is by taking a look at smartphones, as they are the main device that has the most eyes on it as nearly every person owns a smartphone.
Upgrades Each Year
Taking a look at Android smartphones, they always have a new Snapdragon processor, in 2019 it was the Snapdragon 855 processor that all new Android phones were using.
However, even with that being the latest, Qualcomm even managed to released a higher tier processor such as the 855+, this means that within the same year, phones can undergo getting more powerful.
For iPhones, they use a Bionic chip that is improved each year.
There are another three improvements that are made and that would be:
- the cameras that phones use,
- the displays they show,
- the amount of RAM that they have.
Cameras that phones use
The time for cameras for having a single camera is over. The standard is now for phones to have multiple camera lenses, now there’s a regular lens, telephoto lens, a wide-angle lens and quite a few others that brands are working on to install onto their phones.
We might be coming to the point where phones are starting to have so many cameras that hiding them might be the next step in design and this is because OnePlus has managed to create a transparent to opaque type of glass at the back of their concept phone.
They unveiled this tech at CES 2020, and you can take a look at the tech in this video.
Displays they show
The displays that our phones use have also improved greatly because a few years ago, most phones would simply use LCD screens.
LCD screens can be good looking if it’s a high-quality panel, but now phones are using OLED panel screens, which are brighter and have more color-accurate colors.
Ram they have
One other part is the amount of RAM that phones are now using, a few years back phones having 4GB of RAM would be a lot, but there are now higher-end phones like the OnePlus 7 Pro that have 12GB of RAM, which can be more RAM that most people have in their computers.
Larger Batteries to Keep Up
So, with all the improvements that we mentioned, modern phones are amazing, but at the same time, they burn through a ton of power.
Mobile phones burn through a ton of power.
This is especially the case if you’re someone that:
- uses your screen at or near max brightness,
- takes photos often,
- uses many apps at once.
Then there’s a high chance that you’re going to run out of battery power throughout the day.
The higher usage of our devices has made brands use higher capacity batteries with their phones and now we’ve got phones using 4,000mAh batteries and that is now gradually growing even higher.
Having a larger battery helps a lot, and with my current smartphone, a Galaxy Note 9 with its 4,000mAh battery, I find that I still have quite a bit of battery power left over at the end of the day.
That said, that’s not the case for most people, and when it does come to charging a larger battery you’re going to want to do it at a faster charging speed to get it back to 100%.
This is why every new phone that has been released is now compatible with some sort of fast charging tech.
Fast Charging to Keep Up with Larger Batteries
The majority of Android phones are compatible with Qualcomm Quick Charge, a fast charging technology that can deliver up to 18W of charging power, it’s good but quite limited.
Another one is Dash Charging, a fast charging technology that is only compatible with OnePlus smartphones, it’s super fast because it’s able to charge their phones at 5 Amps, but of course, it’s super limited because it can only charge a specific phone.
The main solution when it comes to combining fast charging and universal charging is the use of Power Delivery.
The thing that makes Power Delivery more useful than Dash charging and Quick Charge is that it’s more powerful and it can be used across many different devices.
Above, we just focused on smartphones but the reality is that all portable devices have advances each year with becoming more powerful and the great thing is that most laptops are now using a USB-C Power Delivery port.
As a result, Power Delivery is charging technology that can not only be useful for charging smartphones but it can also be useful for charging laptops and tablets.
Power Delivery to Rule them All?
Power Delivery is rated to provide 100W of charging power.
So, smartphones can receive 18W of PD, at least, compatible ones and there are quite a lot on the market. Such as most Samsung phones that use a USB-C port, and the newer iPhone models are also PD compatible.
Just to show how useful PD is, Apple is finally shipping out its iPhone 11 Pro models with a PD wall charger.
The main benefit of Power Delivery charging is that if you have a 60W PD charger that you use to charge your laptop, you can also use it to charge your smartphone.
One charger for all. Another factor is how readily available Power Delivery is with many types of chargers, as it’s used with power banks, car chargers and many third-party brands have created their PD wall chargers that feature more charging power and more than just a single PD port.
You don’t have to lug around a charging brick anymore with a PD laptop.
Two improvements have been made to Power Delivery.
One is that PD wall chargers have become super small and this is thanks to using GaN chips inside of them. These chips can deliver more charging power, while still being small.
The other improving factor of PD wall chargers is that some now use two USB-C ports. So you can charge two laptops at once or perhaps you can charge a laptop and fast charge your smartphone at the same time.
