Does Fast Charging Damage Your Cell Phone Battery? A Two-Year study Weighs In
A common concern for smartphone users is whether fast charging degrades battery health. Smartphone batteries, primarily made of lithium ions, are sensitive to temperature variations and can degrade when exposed to high heat - a byproduct of the charging process. Traditionally,it’s been recommended to use slower chargers (like a 5-watt charger) or limit charging to 80% to mitigate this damage.
However, a recent two-year analysis conducted by technology experts from the YouTube channel HXT Studio, involving 40 phones (specifically iPhone 12 and iQOO 7 models), challenges this conventional wisdom.
The study tested various charging methods: fast charging (20 watts and 120 watts), slow charging (5 watts and 18 watts), fast charging limited to 30-80% capacity, and a control group left uncharged for six months. Researchers measured battery capacity before and after 500 charging cycles.
The results showed surprisingly little difference between fast and slow charging. iPhones in the slow charge group lost 11.8% of capacity, while those in the fast charge group lost 12.3% - a difference of only 0.5%. Android phones showed an even smaller difference: 8.8% degradation for slow charging versus 8.5% for fast charging (a 0.3% difference).
Charging only to 50% (between 30-80%) did show reduced degradation. iPhones experienced a 4% capacity loss, and Android phones a 6% loss, a difference of 2.5% between the operating systems.
The study concluded that fast charging does not degrade the battery more than slow charging, and while maintaining charge levels between 30 and 80 percent helps preserve battery quality, it doesn’t prevent complete degradation.
Moreover, the researchers tested the impact of consistently charging to 100%. Phones where divided into groups maintained at 1%, 50%, and 100% charge for a week. After this period, no changes in battery capacity were detected.
