Chase Xu, Vice President and Head of Marketing at Realme, presented a smartphone that was charged from 0 to 100% in 4:22 minutes | Photo credit: John Xavier

Last week, Realme unveiled its SuperSonic charging technology at the company’s 828 Fan Festival in Shenzhen, China. The technology can fully charge a smartphone in less than five minutes. During a live demo at the event, Chase Xu, Realme’s vice president and head of marketing, physically demonstrated a smartphone that was fully charged from 0 to 100% in 4:22 minutes.

“We actually started working on this (super-fast charging) some time ago because it became really clear that users around the world were looking for long-lasting phones,” said Mr Xu The Hindu during an exclusive exchange at the company headquarters.

“One user is looking for a better or bigger battery, the other is looking for faster charging options. They want their phones to be charged quickly before they leave the house,” Xu added, pointing to the changing consumer needs that are driving innovations in charging technology.

“In the future, we plan to add both larger batteries and faster charging to meet consumer needs,” he noted.

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And to achieve this, Realme has to juggle the conflicting demands of size and efficiency. Their R&D team is trying to innovate in this area by using new materials to build thin, powerful and efficient batteries.

“We are currently working in two directions. One is targeting users in the workplace who want fast charging. The second group is students who are looking for (longer) batteries that are thinner,” said Mr Xu.

Clutch Wu, product marketing specialist at Realme, explained the technology behind the super-fast charging technology and said the technology was inspired by the foldable panel technology.

“We used graphite (material) in this battery,” said Mr. Wu. He also noted that the Realme team is working on gallium nitride (GaN) solutions for other upcoming batteries.

Last year, the Chinese smartphone maker launched a 240W fast charging technology for one of its smartphones, which can fully charge a battery in less than 10 minutes.

While the 240W fast charging technology is already used in some of Realme’s phones, it will still be a few years before the 320W battery is commercially available.

Mr. Xu noted that deliveries could begin in the company’s performance-oriented GT series.

When asked about the importance of the Indian market, Mr. Xu said that India is an important market for the company and that the relationship with this market dates back to 2018 when Realme started its operations. The smartphone maker plans to partner with local companies to drive technology development.

On the recently launched Realme 13 Pro series, Mr. Xu said the company sold 112,000 units in India in just two weeks. The company also plans to launch a new phone later this year that could compete in the flagship segment.

Realme plans to increase its market share in India in the 20-35k smartphone segment from the current 10% to 15-20% in the next two to three years.