Infinix made headlines last year when it announced 260W wired fast-charging – albeit only in a demo model. Today, it moved one step closer to it reaching a production phone with the Infinix Note 40 Pro+ 5G.
This new flagship Android phone includes a dedicated power management chip called the Cheetah X1. Created in-house by Infinix, this chip manages the All-round FastCharge 2.0 system, delivering up to 100W wired charging and 20W wireless charging.
This is still some way off that industry beating 260W wired and 110W wireless, but with this chip now in place, it’s likely that even faster charging times will follow. According to Vento Lin, Product Director of the Infinix Note Series, the company wants to "lead the subject of charging in the industry. In the future, we'll see that speed increase."
The Cheetah X1 isn’t just about charging speed though. The chip offers the ability to optimise the charging speed to suit the situation and environment. A low-temp charging option keeps the phone cooler while charging, which is ideal for use in hotter climates (where this phone will mostly be sold). Meanwhile, the smart mode balances speed and temperature to optimise the charging, and the hyper mode prioritises speed to deliver a 50% charge in just eight minutes.
"This is my favourite feature on the phone," says Lin. "Our users charging habits are all different. Sometimes they're not in a hurry and just want a slow and stable charge keeping the phone lag-free. But if you need to go out in 10 or 15 mins and need the phone to last all day, you need the really fast charging."
Wireless magnetic charging
With the new phone comes a magnetic wireless charging puck, known as a MagPad, and a special MagCase phone casing which features a circular metal feature to allow the MagPad to attach. It also allows the magnetic attachment of an additional power bank.
While the Qi open wireless charging standard, and more specifically the new Qi2 version offers similar MagSafe-esque charging abilities, this is Infinix's own charging protocol, allowing it to offer faster 20W charging.
The Infinix Note 40 Pro+ 5G also features reverse charging, allowing it to charge other devices, such as earphones, fans or other phones. This charging is at a maximum of 10W when connected via the USB-C port, or 5W when charged wirelessly.
Another really interesting charging feature is what it calls Bypass Charging. This is designed for gaming, and as the name suggests, bypasses the battery completely, letting the phone run directly from AC power.
Note 40 Pro+ 5G
Aside from its advanced charging abilities, the Note 40 Pro+ 5G offers a very competitive specification. There’s a 6.78-inch 120Hz display, with curved edges and both Face ID and an under-screen fingerprint sensor. It has JBL dual speakers, a 108MP rear main camera (plus a 2MP macro camera) and 32MP front camera. It looks like there's a third rear camera, but that's the depth sensor.
Also in the rear is the active Halo light, which uses 256 colours to provide a range of notifications, ambient lighting effects and pulses when the voice assistant or charging is active. "Because an AI assistant is very trendy, we wanted to give our users a bit of innovation," says Lin. It's certainly had for subtle notifications when the phone is placed screen down on the table.
The Note 40 Pro+ 5G is powered by a MediaTek Dimensity 7020 5G chip, with up to 24GB of extended RAM (12GB standard), and it runs a skinned version of Android 14, which it calls XOS14.
The big selling point of this phone though is likely to be the price, with units expected to cost around $300 (£235) and comes in a choice of obsidian black and vintage green. There's also a planned special Racing Edition, in collaboration with BMW's DesignWorks group. It has not been confirmed as to whether the Note 40 Pro+ will be available in the UK, but if it is, this cheap smartphone is bound to get some serious attention.
