Qualcomm’s latest charging platform, Quick Charge 5 Plus, takes aim at a common pain point: blistering speed coupled with some blistering heat. The company claims its newest SDT can handle 100W+ power, citing profiles up to 140W (20V/7A), while it reworks the power path to limit device temperatures and preserve battery health long-term.
How Qualcomm reduces heat without reducing speed
Raw wattage has never been the complete story. The issue is how much of the power that energy represents you are actually getting from the wall to the battery. Qualcomm couches Quick Charge 5 Plus in terms of lower device-side voltage, with smarter power management to minimize the conversion losses within the phone that usually turn into heat spots near the PMIC and battery connector.
Beneath the surface, Quick Charge 5 Plus plays nicely with USB Power Delivery PPS to negotiate finer voltage and current increments, with high-efficiency charge pumps and multi-cell battery systems to mitigate stress on the phone.
By moving some of the heavy lifting into the adapter and running at a friendlier voltage on the inside of the phone, the system can keep that high power up for longer before thermal throttling steps in.
The philosophy isn’t completely original — low-voltage, high-current “direct charge” systems such as SuperVOOC and other ones-similar-to-it have shown cooler-running phones during fast top-ups under independent review. Qualcomm’s edge here is reach: Quick Charge is broadly adopted, and plays nice with USB-PD PPS, and so the cooler-charging benefits have a path to being scaled up to mainstream.
Standards, compatibility, and chargers
Quick Charge 5 Plus, Qualcomm claims, is backward compatible with previous Quick Charge versions as far back as QC 2, which still allowed basic fast charging with older bricks. It also focuses on cross-device compatibility stating that Quick Charge can offer similar experiences on devices that occur on non-Snapdragon chipsets, in line with the fact it has been interoperable with USB-PD and PPS for years.
On the accessory side, you can expect the advent of persuing_ GaN chargers and e-marked USB-C cables. Meanwhile, squeezing the most out of Quick Charge 5 Plus will still be dependent on certified 5A cables, solid connectors and firmware that can maintain stable PPS rails under heavy load (stand by that psuedo-interoperability patch cable at your own risk), though USB-IF’s PD 3.1 Extended Power Range does, in fact, support up to 240W of power. The bottom line for buyers: match up capable phones with good PPS-capable chargers and you might see some meaningful gains even before “official” QC 5 Plus bricks are widespread.
Thermal and protective layers are still important. Industry certifications from groups like UL and TÜV Rheinland typically verify overcurrent, overvoltage and thermal protections but OEMs also throw in lots of temperature sensors and cell-level protections. Qualcomm’s pitch is that reducing conversion heat in the phone shortens the path to safe, predictable peak speeds.
Why cooler charging matters
Heat is the unspoken destroyer of fast charging. When it gets hot, the phones lower charging current and even CPU and GPU performance, to protect the hardware. Aimed at cooler device temperatures, Quick Charge 5 Plus should help power delivery remain closer to that advertised, helping to avoid knock-on slowdown during gaming, navigation, or camera usage when plugged in.
There’s also a battery-longevity angle. And the rising temperatures of charged batteries has long been identified as a risk factor for speeding up chemical aging and loss of capacity, according to studies published through IEEE, and programs funded by the U.S. Department of Energy. This can actually make a difference in usable battery life over hundreds of cycles by keeping thermal stress at bay during high power charging.
What to watch as devices come in
Phones coming later this year, which arrive with new Snapdragons, will work with Quick Charge 5 Plus according to Qualcomm, and third-party accessories will join later on. Real-world results will be dependent on each OEM’s thermal design, battery chemistry and adapter tuning, but the framework is promising: high power when you demand it, less heat when you don’t.
And if Quick Charge 5 Plus is as good as Qualcomm says it is—100W+ speeds over time, cooler phone surfaces, cleaner handoffs with USB-PD PPS—it could reset consumer expectations about what “fast” phone charging means.
A headline number may get attention, but the real victory is consistency: faster top-ups that feel uneventful, safe, and repeatable every single day.
