Type C Power Delivery (PD) Chargers for Fast Charging

The New Age of Charging Technology?

As time marches on, so does technology. And that doesn’t exclude your phone chargers. While ports and cable heads have changed over time, we are currently seeing the next generation of phone chargers that are completely changing the game. The most obvious being the rise of wireless chargers.

Being able to place your phone on a dock overnight and have it ready to go come morning without having to deal with a single cable. However, while this feature is super cool… is it that helpful? You don’t have to deal with messy wires, but the phone will still charge at the same rate or maybe even slower.

Cue the Power Delivery phone charging cable. These cables can carry high wattage meaning your phone gets super juiced in mere minutes. But where did they come from? How do they work? Can you use them? If you’re asking any of these, read on below. And if you’re not, read on anyway; you might learn something.

What is Power Delivery Charging?

As we’ve said, Power Delivery charging is the newest and fastest way to fill up your phone battery. But what is classed as ‘power delivery’?

Power Delivery or ‘PD’ is a classification meaning that a device can handle higher power levels and allows for faster charging. Now standard USB-A cable heads (what you think of as a standard USB) dates back to 1996 and won’t be able to transfer these power levels. So a super-easy way of identifying a PD charger is a USB-C, not a USB-A cable head. A USB-C or Type-C phone cable is the flat, rounded, reversible type as pictured. The new heads allow for voltage transfer anywhere between 5V and 20V and can handle power levels of up to 60W. That’s 12x more than standard chargers!

Where did this Rapid Power Charging tech come from?

As with most things nowadays, this tech was pioneered by Apple. They introduced the feature into their devices with the iPad Pro 12.9 back in 2015, later making the addition to their laptops a year later in 2016 with the MacBook Pro. Power charging was then implemented in their smartphones, beginning with the iPhone 8.

With the passing of time, the power requirements for all these fancy new devices became ever greater, and the capabilities of standard USB chargers became more and more inadequate. Thankfully, however, you did not have to rely long on Apple’s costly and expensive charging cables, as 3rd party manufacturers were hot on the case to benefit consumers devices and pockets. (See Titan Power+)

How does Power Delivery Charging work?

A few changes have to be made from your average phone charging cable to handle the enormous step up in power. The first I have mentioned above: switching from the near-archaic USB-A to the new shiny USB-C. However, this on its own isn’t enough. A standard USB-C can operate up to 3A. But that alone isn’t enough to reach those record charging speeds.

As a force, Power is measured in watts (W), which means that having a higher wattage allows a wire to carry more power. You may remember the equation P = IV from your school physics classes. Where P = Power, I = Current, and V = Voltage. I promise I won’t get too scientific here.

To briefly summarise, most cables are limited by the current or Amperes (A) that can flow down their fibres. Lowering Amps will lower the Watts, and therefore reducing the power being delivered. Hence, Power Delivery chargers. Increase the current, increase the power, increase the speed at which you can charge your phone to full battery.

However, just because your cable can carry 60W doesn’t mean your phone can. Not that it will damage your phone in any way. But in the chain from the wall to your phone, the weakest link will limit the speed of charge. Be that the wall adaptor, your cable or your phone.

The best thing you can do is buy a phone cable and a wall charger that are the best they can be and feel safe knowing your phone filling up the best it can. As PD cables operate on USB-C, not your standard USB-A, you will also need a wall outlet with USB fast charging capabilities. These carry not just a USB-C port to allow you to connect. But also have significantly higher Wattage capabilities so that you can hit the charging heights that this new tech promises.

Point to note: Be careful of power banks that offer 60W charging and a PD port. Unless they specifically mention that the PD port can charge in itself up to 60W. Some of these banks are designed to spread this power across all of their ports, meaning that none of them can actually reach the power you so desire.

Why the Type-C Head for PD Cables?

I’ve already pointed out how outdated the USB-A tech has become over the generations of mobile devices. Following the classic USB head, we’ve seen the USB-B. If you aren’t super aware of this, we aren’t surprised. The design made it impractical for more mobile devices and is now only used sparingly, typically for bulkier devices such as printers. However, the USB-C completely changed the game and is here to stay. With all the new features it carries and the promise of universal compatibility, you can see why.

The USB-C head comes packed with features that allow it to charge rapidly and handle large amounts of data at record speeds. The microchip embedded in the Type-C charging cable head is a smart little cookie. Built to handle bucket loads of charging power, the head comes equipped with the ability to handle this great power responsibly.

Say you want to connect up your new MacBook. The Type-C PD cable head will detect your laptop/mobile phone/camera/Xbox controller’s power rating and deliver a supported and, therefore, safe charge. Meaning you can charge any of your devices to their maximum potential while keeping them (and you) safe.

Plus, the very same circuit board measures the fast charging cable’s temperature and your device to ensure that no overheating occurs. Safe and speedy!

Can my mobile device use USB-C Power Delivery Chargers?

You may have got the picture that we think this tech is pretty sweet. That’s why we released our own Titan PD Cables! But that’s beside the point. You want to know whether you can get the most out of these hot new chargers.

Simply put, no matter your phone, a PD charger (paired with a fast charger plug) will make your phone charge as fast as it can, BUT you may not hit those top speeds advertised if you’ve got an older device. So which ones can? The list of phones that CAN utilise power delivery charging is WAY too long to include here. However, we can tell you that phones started including this feature back in 2017. Now we know that you can’t remember what phones that time window contains. To put it in perspective, that’s from the iPhone 8 / Samsung Galaxy S8 and upwards.

Is this Power Charging the future?

In all likelihood, yes! We’ve seen the new iPhone 12 deliver with a USB-C to Lightning PD cable in the box (despite no fast charger USB plug being included). Showing that Apple is moving its tech in that direction. But how far will they go? Androids have now also progressed from the unsymmetrical Micro-USB for most of their new devices and hopped on board the USB-C charging port bandwagon.

Are universal cables on the way? I bet you sure hope so! Soon one power delivery USB-C charger may be all you need in the house for your mobile phone and laptop! (Assuming your little sister doesn’t steal it to watch the latest Peppa Pig episode.)

The new Type-C cable heads offer a refreshing change from their older USB-A counterpart with new tech allowing them to be faster, safer and provide more compatibility. Plus, you don’t have to worry about plugging them in the wrong way the first time around every time (in the statistical anomaly, which still will baffle scientists and mathematicians alike for decades to come). Not only are these cables reversible in this way, but a USB-C to USB-C charging cable can also be used in reverse, meaning you can plug in either end. So you LITERALLY can never go wrong. Obviously, the feature you are most interested in is the faster charging that the PD cables offer. Still, these extra bonuses allow you to do so without any safety concerns.

There really isn’t much of a downside to these new USB-C to USB-C charging cables (or their Lightning to USB-C variant for Apple phones). While, at present, they are slightly more expensive than your standard cable, we believe they’ll be here to stay. How can you turn away from being able to charge up a mobile phone in under 30 minutes? Even a 10-minute charge on a PD cable, which sometimes is all you have, can give you a hefty chunk of battery compared to older chargers.

While you may not be able to use these chargers at their top-end speed due to your device's constraints, they are still pretty fantastic. If you want to fill your phone as fast as you possibly can, you can’t go wrong with a PD cable and a PD plug. Once bought, consider yourself future-proofed.

And if you want to future proof yourself, you may as well get a charger you know can last that long. Pick up a Titan PD Cable and a Titan PD Plug and charge safe in the knowledge that you cannot possibly charge your phone any faster. Well, at least until the next-gen of charging products come out. But don’t worry! When they do, we’ll have the tech.