The MWC 2016 saw the announcement of a number of flagships like the Xiaomi Mi 5, Samsung Galaxy S7 and LG G5, with all these phones having the Snapdragon 820 processor in common. Much has been made of Qualcomm’s latest top-of-the-line chipset, which has only just begun to appear in handsets after making its debut last year.
Naturally, you’d expect manufacturers to equip their flagship handsets with the best of what the Snapdragon 820 has to offer. This is not the case with Samsung which for some unfathomable reason has decided to go with Quick Charge 2.0 in the Galaxy S7 and S7 Edge instead of the latest Quick Charge 3.0 technology.
On the other hand, LG has chosen to include Quick Charge 3.0 in the G5. If you’re wondering what the difference is, Qualcomm says the feature is 4 times faster than conventional charging and 38% more efficient than Quick Charge 2.0 overall. This sounds like a useful facet to add to a device, but it seems like Samsung didn’t think so.
Also Read: Best Android phones at MWC 2016
The lack of the latest software in the Galaxy S7 came out via a post on Qualcomm’s blog. The handset’s official page itself talks about built-in fast charging capabilities, with the S7 taking 90 minutes and S7 Edge taking 100 minutes. It’s possible the brand decided to forego Quick Charge 3.0 in favor of common charging standards between the Snapdragon 820 variant and the Exynos 8890 one.
One of the biggest highlights of the Galaxy S7 and S7 Edge are its bigger batteries at 3000mAh and 3600mAh, respectively. While the LG G5 only has a 2800mAh battery, the unit is removable. This gives it a slight edge over its non-removable rivals, along with the aforementioned Quick Charge 3.0 feature.