The $300 Infinix Note 40 Pro+ has a premium persona and does something with charging that no other Android phone does.
Infinix is an underdog phone brand that’s slowly gaining momentum in developing nations. It offers a variety of low-spec and midrange phones with premium designs and features at astoundingly low prices. That continues with the newest midrange series, the Infinix Note 40, which packs some unusual perks, most notably frictionless charging.
The series’ top-of-the-line Note 40 Pro+ is crammed with features you wouldn’t otherwise find on other sub-$300 phones. Among them is a 120Hz curved AMOLED display with an in-display fingerprint scanner, built-in AI features, dual speakers tuned by JBL, a super-slim profile with a vegan leather finish and gold accents, and wildly fast 100-watt wired charging.
But one feature that instantly sticks out as unusual is its support for wireless charging, which has previously been limited to more premium phones. Much more exciting is the technology baked into these phones that allows charging even in extreme temperatures and prevents overheating in almost every case.
Following the Infinix Note 40 series’ launch in March, I had a chance to put the brand’s charging claims to test in different scenarios. I also talked with Lake Hu, chief marketing officer, and Vento Lin, product director, for the Infinix Note series, and excerpts from the interview are sprinkled throughout the text of this article. Here’s why the Infinix Note 40’s approach to charging is unlike any other Android phone you may have heard of — and why that’s a good thing.Let’s talk wired charging first
The Infinix Note 40 Pro+ supports wired charging at up to 100W via a charger included in the box. The high charging rate is certainly appealing for a $300 phone, but not unique. It is especially not a significant feat for Infinix, which has already achieved insanely fast wired charging speeds — 260W, to be exact — on a prototype, as well as 180W on a commercially available phone.
But despite its slower speeds than preexisting siblings, the new Note 40 Pro+ approaches charging differently. It fundamentally gives you ultimate control over charging by letting you choose from one of the three charging modes — Hyper, Smart, and Low Temp — when you plug in the 100W charger.
The Hyper mode harnesses the full potential of the 100W charging, which can, according to Infinix, charge 50% of the 4,600mAh battery on the Note 40 Pro+ in less than 10 minutes. For a full charge, the Hyper mode takes roughly 35 minutes. This kind of incredibly fast charging is desirable, especially when you realize just minutes before you have to head out that the phone is running on low battery. With just a few minutes of charging, you can achieve several hours’ worth of charge.
But superfast charging and frequent charging cycles can also stress any battery and result in faster degradation — which is also why Infinix consciously chose a slower charging speed on the Note 40 Pro+. On top of that, enormous heat is generated inside the phone if you use the phone while charging it, especially at high charging rates in the range of 100W. Heating, in addition to the preexisting stress of fast charging, can lead to quicker battery wear.
To reduce the impact that fast charging has on the battery’s health, Infinix adds a “Smart” mode, which manipulates charging speeds intelligently to maintain a uniform flow of charge into the battery at a nearly steady voltage. This reduces the impact on the battery life with some manageable decreases in the charging speeds.
The third mode, Low Temp, ensures the phone’s temperature does not increase while charging. This not only ensures a longer battery life when you’re not in a rush, but also averts accidents such as batteries igniting. Based on your charging habits, you can set the Smart or Low Temp mode as the default from the phone’s settings.
For other intensive scenarios like gaming, the phone also has a passthrough mode. It simply keeps the phone awake and pauses charging after a certain percentage to prevent heating and any deterioration in performance.A special chip to lower temperatures
The charging speeds on the Note 40 Pro+ are managed by a special “Cheetah X1” chipset.
