Best daily deals

Affiliate links on Android Authority may earn us a commission. Learn more.

Here's how 120W charging will affect battery health on Xiaomi's next flagship

With people holding on to phones for longer these days, it seems like there's room for improvement here.
By
September 13, 2021
Xiaomi 120W charger 2
Robert Triggs / Android Authority
TL;DR
  • Xiaomi has revealed what effect the 11T Pro’s 120W charging will have on battery health.
  • A representative said you can expect 80% battery capacity to be retained after 800 charging cycles.

The Xiaomi 11T series is set to launch later this week, and the manufacturer has already confirmed that the top-end 11T Pro will offer 120W wired charging capabilities. Now, the company has revealed how this ultra-fast charging solution will affect battery health over time.

Xiaomi head of communications Daniel Desjarlais told The Verge that you can expect 80% battery capacity after 800 charging cycles at this speed (equivalent to roughly two years).

Now, that 20% might sound like ‘oh wow, I’m losing 20%,’ but that’s quite standard across basically all charging tech. 800 cycles, for most people, it’s going to be two years roughly. So that’s quite solid.

Desjarlais also told the outlet that there were “relatively minute differences” to battery degradation when using a slower charger versus a 120W adapter. But he noted that the ideal situation would be for consumers to use a slower charger overnight.

How does this compare though?

This isn’t the first time we’ve seen Xiaomi tout these figures, as it revealed 200W wired charging earlier this year that also promised 80% capacity retained after 800 charging cycles. Nevertheless, 20% battery degradation seems about on par for 100W+ speeds, as OPPO previously stated that its 125W solution results in the same drop after 800 cycles too.

In saying so, a drop to 80% battery capacity is still worse than some players on the market with slower (but still generally fast) charging. OPPO has previously claimed that its 65W wired charging solution only loses 9% capacity after 800 charging cycles (i.e. it drops to 91%).

What do you think of battery degradation with Xiaomi's 120W charging?

974 votes

OPPO charging scientist Jeff Zhang also told GSMArena earlier this year that its 65W technology only drops the battery to 80% capacity after 1,500 charging cycles (i.e. roughly four years). Meanwhile, Samsung previously asserted back in 2017 that its batteries would still retain 95% capacity after two years of usage, albeit at ~15W speeds.

Still, I guess things could be worse for Xiaomi. As The Verge notes, Apple only promises 80% capacity after 500 charging cycles (roughly equivalent to just over a year).

What do you think of Xiaomi’s battery degradation claims at 120W charging? Let us know via the poll above.