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QCCharge

For the by few years, a number of smartphones have offered and then-called "fast charging" solutions. These options are meant to charge the device rapidly (Qualcomm's Quick Charge 3.0 is one such example). Earlier this year, we discussed how USB-C and QuickCharge 3.0 were incompatible, thanks to their different requirements for device voltage. The USB-C specification prohibits changing Vbus voltage, which is what Qualcomm does to hitting its fast charge targets. Now Google is formally irresolute its best practices that it recommends for Android, and it doesn't sound like a solution Qualcomm or other quick-charge engineering science companies will be happy with.

In its new Android Compatibility Guide for Android 7.0 (Nougat), Google states the following:

Type-C devices are STRONGLY RECOMMENDED to not support proprietary charging methods that modify Vbus voltage beyond default levels, or alter sink/source roles as such may result in interoperability issues with the chargers or devices that support the standard USB Power Commitment methods. While this is called out every bit "STRONGLY RECOMMENDED", in future Android versions we might REQUIRE all type-C devices to support total interoperability with standard type-C chargers.

No reason has been provided for the change, but it could be related to the general uncertainty we've seen in the USB-C market place. Right now, you've got a groovy many cables manufactured to particular standards, with all of this poorly communicated to end users. That's before nosotros even touch the problem of bad cables in and of themselves. Information technology's entirely possible that Google is taking this step because an improperly synthetic cable, combined with a Quick Accuse service, can do some significant harm to a device.

USB-Type-C-Compatibility-1

USB-C is theoretically capable of handling all these standards, just getting compatibility stock-still has been dodgy.

What Google is chasing here is the thought of USB-C as a truly universal standard, where the cables all piece of work with all of the devices. We've seen more than problems here than I honestly predictable — I don't recollect anyone putting USB three.0 under the aforementioned kind of limelight, merely then USB three.0 wasn't trying to be all things to all people. The fact that USB-C can tackle everything from HDMI, to peripheral attachments (via Thunderbolt 3) means that the number of parts that tin can connect to the same port has leapt upwards. Just as we discussed yesterday, these cables aren't always fungible, and the cables that can do everything are significantly more expensive. Users who typically purchase the cheapest cables, exist warned — that'due south not going to work this time around.

Qualcomm has always maintained that its charging is fine and presents no risk to any Android devices, and to be fair, we've never heard of whatsoever failures. Nonetheless, if Google squashes the standard altogether and starts requiring full compatibility, it could paring the fast-charging market and issue in fewer devices beingness released — at least until someone figures out a dissimilar way effectually the problem that doesn't require changing the Vbus.