As of right now, various industries related to electronics and technology utilize silicon as the primary choice for the semiconductor materials. However, a new report suggests that a new more efficient material might arrive soon as multiple smartphone OEMs are expected to adopt this new material for future products.

According to the report, major smartphone brands like Huawei, Apple, Vivo, Oppo, Samsung, and Xiaomi are all preparing for the adoption of a new breed of chargers. Its big news considering the new products that will be sold may be equipped with gallium nitride (GaN). This compound is a semiconductor material that offers certain notable advantages over silicon, thanks to its higher bandgap.

In simpler terms, each atom in the GaN can hold and provide more energy than its silicon counterparts. This results in a much higher power delivery capacity in an even smaller charger size, making it both efficient and portable at the same time. Reportedly, the new improvements in technology could see new generations of fast chargers capable of outputting 65W of power, resulting in a vast improvement of fast charging standards compared to today’s technology.

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Although the technology is yet to see widespread adoption, a Chinese company, Xiaomi, has already started offering such chargers. The Mi 10 Pro arrives with a 65W GaN fast charger, so it is safe to assume that the industry will catch up soon. The smartphone market is a highly volatile market and staying up to date and innovative is what keeps OEMs from being left behind by the competition. Thus other Chinese brands like Huawei or Oppo will quickly adopt the new technology and material as well.

Apple is an interesting addition to the list of near future adopters. The Cupertino based giant is infamous for being slow in the integration of technologies it has not developed on its own. This holds especially true in the fast charging fields. The best example of this is the meager 5W charger the iPhone 11 still ships with out of the box. So it may seem like a significant jump from the company to 65W, especially for a relatively new technology.

UP NEXT: Huawei opens a brand new retail store in Barcelona, right in front of Apple’s store

(Via)

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Along with the Xiaomi Mi 10 series, the company also announced 7 new accessories for smartphones today. They range from wirelessly charging Bluetooth speakers to GaN-based 65W fast chargers. Let’s take a quick look at all the accessories announced at the event.

1. Wireless Charging Bluetooth Speaker

Xiaomi announced a new Bluetooth Speaker in China today. The highlight of the new speaker is its ability to charge wirelessly, even while it’s playing music. The Mi Wireless Bluetooth Speaker can charge wirelessly at 30W, the same speed as the Xiaomi Mi 10 series and the Mi 9 Pro 5G. The speaker can pair via NFC and comes with Bluetooth 5.0 support.

The Wireless Charging Bluetooth Speaker is priced at ¥249 ($36) in China.

Xiaomi was the first to pioneer 30W fast wireless charging tech in the market and now it’s steadily building a portfolio of products built around this technology. This brings us to the next accessory, the Vertical wireless charger.

2. Xiaomi 30W Vertical Wireless Charger

We are familiar with Xiaomi’s 30W vertical wireless charger and the company seems to have reannounced it with the Mi 10 series today.

The 30W wireless charger has an ultra-quiet built-in fan and an air duct, which helps in better heat dissipation. The company promises fast wireless charging even when the charger is at maximum load, all thanks to better heat management. We have already covered the 30W wireless charger in detail previously, so you can read our story here. The charger will go on sale at ¥199 ($29), the same price as before.

3. Xiaomi AIoT AX3600 Wi-Fi 6 router

Featuring 7 antennas, Qualcomm’s IPQ8071A chipset and paired with 512MB of RAM and 256MB of storage, Xiaomi’s first Wi-Fi 6 router, the AX3600 promises high-end performance and up to 9.6Gbps speeds. One of the seven antennas on the router is a dedicated AIoT antenna that supports dual-frequency and provides speeds of up to 150Mbps for IoT devices. You can read more about the Xiaomi AIoT AX3600 router from our launch article here.

The Wi-Fi 6 Xiaomi router is priced at ¥599 (~$86).

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4. Special Xiaomi Mi 10 Air cooling fan

For your long hours of gaming, Xiaomi announced a special Ice cooling fan accessory for the Xiaomi Mi 10.

Unlike other portable cooling fans for smartphones, the Mi external fan seems to run on its own battery. So, your USB-C port is still available to connect other accessories like a Gamepad.

The cooling fan for the Xiaomi Mi 10 is priced at ¥129 ($19).

5. Gamepad for Xiaomi Mi 10

Talking about gamepads, the company also unveiled a special gamepad for the new flagship lineup today. It is priced at ¥299 ($33) in China. In the image shared at the end of the event, you get a glimpse of the gamepad (bottom left corner), but that’s all we have so far.

6. Xiaomi 65W GaN Compact Type-C Charger

Xiaomi also announced a super-compact 65W GaN charger for smartphones, laptops, and other devices.

The charger can fully charge the Mi 10 Pro at a max rate of 50W in just 45 minutes. And for devices like laptops that support 65W charging, it can unleash its full wattage to quickly juice it up. Being a GaN-based (Gallium Nitride) charger, it’s extremely compact and easy to carry as well.

It is priced at ¥149 ($21) and is up for pre-order on the Xiaomi Youpin website.

It is also worth adding that the Xiaomi Mi 10 Pro ships with a 65W charger (not the above model) out of the box.

7. Xiaomi Mi 10 flip case

The Mi 10 series is getting a cool new case in multiple color options. The case comes with a cut out on the side to display key updates, similar to what we have seen on Samsung’s S view cases.

While personally, I’m not a fan of this orange shade (OnePlus’ papaya orange has spoiled me), it’s good to know that there are a lot of color options for the flip case like Blue, Red, and Green.

UP NEXT: Xiaomi India teases new Mi Speaker; will launch on Feb. 17

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