Chinese manufacturers have led the way for charging tech over the last five years, and this is particularly true for OPPO and its VOOC/SuperVOOC charging solutions. The VOOC standard was introduced back in 2014, and went up to 20W (5V/4A). It was licensed by OnePlus as Dash Charge, and over the years, we saw the emergence of 30W, 50W, and 65W charging tech.
These days, most phones in the BBK portfolio use the 65W standard by default, which works at 10V/6.5A. OPPO also has 80W charging tech that's limited to select devices, and the brand showed off its 150W charging solution earlier this year, and it's already available on a few devices, like the Realme GT Neo 3.
Because OPPO uses a custom charging solution, all of its phones include a SuperVOOC charger by default. And while it's great to be able to fully charge a battery in just over 30 minutes, the biggest issue with OPPO's bundled phone chargers is that they tend to be massive. Even though the brand started using gallium nitride (GaN) tech to reduce the size of its chargers, they weren't very portable.
That's changing with the 50W mini SuperVOOC charger. As the name suggests, the 50W charger is aimed at portability, and has a ridiculously thin profile that doesn't convey the fact that this is a charger at all — much less one that goes up to 50W. OPPO says that this is the world's thinnest 50W charger, and that's not hard to see. The charger was first introduced back in 2020, and OPPO is slated to bring it to global markets.
OPPO switched to an elongated design that sees the charging prongs tucked into the charger when not in use, further increasing the portability. With a length of 82.2mm, 39mm width, and thickness of just 10.5mm, it is just about the most portable charger I've used to date. Using it next to the standard 65W and 80W chargers makes the magnitude of OPPO's achievement clear, and this is among the best USB-C chargers for portability.
Instead of the standard electrolytic capacitor, OPPO is using 100Hz pulse charging to deliver a 50W current. The charger also features a new AC-DC control pane and high-efficiency switching to manage thermals, and GaN internals to reduce the overall size. And in another first, OPPO is using clamping diodes to minimize interference:
"The use of new filtering architecture, custom integrated inductors, optimized control algorithms, and layout and wiring strategies in the charger reduce electromagnetic interference and meet strict reliability index requirements."
The 50W mini SuperVOOC charger is designed for OPPO and associated brands that use the SuperVOOC standard, but the best part is that it also works with the USB PD protocol, going up to 33W. That means you can charge the best Android phones and accessories with the charger, and I used it with the Galaxy S22 Ultra, Nothing phone (1), and a wide assortment of wireless earbuds over the course of the last month.
Here are all the power profiles you get with the charger:
- SuperVOOC (100 - 240V): 30W (5V/6A), 50W (10V/5A)
- USB PD (100 - 130V): 7.5W (5V/1.5A), 9W (9V/1A)
- USB PD (180 - 240V): 15W (5V/3A), 27W (9V/3A)
- USB PD PPS (180 - 240V): 33W (11V/3A)
The charger isn't particularly useful in the U.S. as it only goes up to 9W over USB PD, and it's a moot point anyway as OPPO isn't likely to sell it officially in the country. But the fact that it delivers 27W fast charging over the PD standard and 33W with PPS makes this a highly enticing option for most global markets.
As you'd imagine, the charger does a fantastic job with SuperVOOC devices like the Find X5 Pro and the OnePlus 10 Pro, and although both phones use the 80W standard, it doesn't take significantly longer to fully charge either battery with this 50W charger.
But what makes it a standout option for me is the fact that it works with the USB PD protocol; it is a great portable alternative if you use any phones in the Galaxy A series, the S22, or other devices like the phone (1) that don't come with a bundled charger.
The 50W mini SuperVOOC charger costs about the equivalent of $55 in China, and while OPPO hasn't shared details on when it would debut outside the country, it shouldn't be a particularly lengthy wait.
