Qualcomm: USB Type-C And Quick Charge Technology Can Co-Exist

It was in September of last year when Qualcomm first unveiled its new Quick Charge 3.0 technology. This rapid charging technology has since been adopted by some of world’s biggest phone makers, including LG’s flagship device, the G5, and HTC’s own flagship offering, the HTC 10 smartphone. 

But one engineer from Google, Benson Leung, has claimed that Qualcomm’s Quick Charge technology is not compatible with USB Type C, a specification that is also present in both the LG G5 and the HTC 10 devices. Qualcomm has since dispelled that notion, releasing a statement saying that the company has not received any reports regarding issues with user experience or device malfunction with using USB Type C connectors.

For those not familiar with how USB Type C connectors work, that’s okay. Besides, the only bit of information that is truly relevant is the fact that USB Type C connectors need a port’s Vbus line to sit between 4.45 and 5.25 volts. But Qualcomm’s Quick Charge technology, however, pushes that to 9 or 12 volts. In the statement that Qualcomm released, the chip maker stated that manufacturers of mobile devices are free to incorporate Quick Charge technology into their products, and then configure the voltage as appropriate based on the USB Type C specification. 

Qualcomm’s Quick Charge technology generated some buzz last year, with its purported ability to charge most handsets from zero to 80 percent in about half an hour. But Leung had concerns about whether the charging technology can co-exist with the USB Type C specification, and he wrote about it via a blog post about four months ago. 

In defense, Qualcomm has countered that the Quick Charge technology is designed to be independent of connector types. The company claims that it can be implemented in mobile devices that have support for various connector specs, such as USB micro, USB Type A, and of course, USB Type C.

Despite Qualcomm’s arguments in its released statement, they do not actually clarify whether or not the USB C devices adopting the company’s Quick Charge technology (the LG G5 and the HTC 10) really are complying with the port specification. And it should be noted that the Nexus 5X (made by LG) and the Nexus 6P (built by Huawei), two of Google’s own handsets that have USB C support), do not adopt Quick Charge technology out of concern that it may not be compatible.