As more and more brands are pushing charging speeds further, Infinix is a brave soul for making its 180w Thunder Charge solution available on its upper mid-range offering with the ZERO ULTRA. As one of the fastest charging solutions available in the Philippines, Thunder Charge can top up the ZERO ULTRA’s 4500mAh battery from 1% to full in around 12 minutes. Before you say that it’s not sustainable, let’s run down all the features incorporated to make the tech possible.

Not the usual battery

It’s common to see phones utilize dual-cell batteries in order to accommodate faster wired charging speeds, but with the ZERO ULTRA, Infinix is using the latest 8C variety. The battery type is chosen as it can accommodate the maximum charging rate on a lithium battery. Compared to other battery types, an 8C battery has a lower internal resistance with its multi-electrode lug.

On the ZERO ULTRA, Infinix configured it by putting two 8C batteries inside, where each battery can accommodate up to 90w charging in order to achieve its maximum charging speed of 180w. To ensure safe and fast charging speeds, Infinix incorporated over 100 software and hardware protection mechanisms and 20 temperature sensors that are found on the 180w Thunder Charge brick, USB-C to USB-C cable, and on the ZERO ULTRA itself.

Special charger and cable

Infinix’s 180w charging tech makes use of a charging brick and USB-C cable that has all the necessary hardware to ensure safe charging speeds. This is why the charging brick itself is huge–it’s a necessary design in order to accommodate all the hardware needed and to help in better heat dissipation. While it is huge compared to most phone chargers out there, the 180w Thunder Charge power brick makes use of the latest GaN tech to keep its form factor as compact as possible while being more resistant to high temperatures.

To ensure full 180w charging speeds, Infinix includes a dedicated USB-C to USB-C cable to ensure the proper delivery of those charging speeds while keeping thermals at a manageable level. Should you want to use a compatible USB-PD cable, you can use that to charge the ZERO ULTRA at up to 100w with the ThunderCharge power brick.

While the charger is meant for the ZERO ULTRA, one of the nice things about the 180w Thunder Charge brick is that you can use it to top up your other devices like laptops and tablets at up to 100w, which is in line with USB-PD 3.0 standards.

 

Flexible charging options

What makes Infinix’s 180w Thunder Charge solution unique is that there is a software-based toggle called Furious Mode, which helps further manage charging speeds. Users have the option to enable or disable Furious Mode depending on their charging needs: enabling it will let you top up the ZERO ULTRA at the maximum 180w speeds at a higher temperature while disabling it lets you still quickly charge the ZERO ULTRA, but at lower speeds (at around 100w) and at a lower temperature.

Having this software-based toggle is a good example of utilizing all the security protection mechanisms of Infinix’s ThunderCharge solution, further helping preserve battery life while enjoying the convenience of fast battery top-up speeds. Aside from Furious Mode, Infinix’s Thunder Charge solution makes use of three charge pumps instead of two charge pumps to ensure the longevity of the battery.

You can buy the ZERO ULTRA at Infinix’s Lazada, Shopee, and TikTok Shop.