Dual USB-C fast charging will become a new trend, with 12 chip manufacturers taking the lead in laying out encapsulated gallium nitride shielding, thermal conductivity, and absorbing materials

Starting from the iPhone 8 series in 2017, the charging method of Apple phones officially aligned with USB PD fast charging, and subsequently went through two stages: the standard 18W PD fast charging charger and the cancellation of the standard charger. Throughout the development of iPhone charging, each stage has had a profound impact on the entire accessory market. Especially since Apple announced the cancellation of standard chargers, the heat of the entire USB PD fast charging power market has reached a climax.

Dual USB-C fast charging trend

As of now, Apple has two consecutive generations of iPhones, totaling 8 models, without a charger. According to rough statistics, the shipment of iPhones without standard chargers in the past two years has been 300-400 million units. If older models are included, the stock of iPhones with USB PD fast charging function on the market is around 1 billion units. Therefore, the market demand for USB PD fast charging chargers has always been very strong.

In addition, on the user side, many consumers are equipped with other devices such as iPad, AirPods, Apple Watch, etc. in addition to iPhone, and the latest generation of products are charged based on USB-C interface, which also creates a strong demand for USB PD chargers. At this point, if the user only uses a single port charger to charge the device, they often need to queue in sequence and wait for a long time; If multiple chargers are used, although it alleviates the problem of charging multiple devices, it will also bring many inconveniences in storage, carrying, and other aspects.

Obviously, for the current usage scenario, traditional single port chargers can no longer meet the needs of users. A charger that can charge two devices simultaneously while maintaining a compact and portable design has become a new demand for many users, especially for some dual machine users, where dual USB-C port chargers are particularly important. The advantages of multi port chargers have been detailed in previous articles on charging head networks.

Charging Head Network has learned that as a leading player in the consumer power market, ANKER、 Several brands such as Green Union and Beisi have anticipated this market trend and have launched 40W-45W fast charging chargers with dual USB-C interfaces in advance, which have been favored by consumers. At the same time, multiple factories have also begun to layout the dual USB-C charger market.

The dual USB-C port charger with a power range of 40W-45W not only meets the fast charging needs of two iPhone phones at the same time, but also supports dual port blind insertion. The single port output of 40W-45W can meet the charging needs of lightweight laptops, and its application range has been expanded compared to traditional 20W PD fast charging.

Advantages of Sealing Gallium Nitride Chips

Gallium nitride technology is an inevitable choice for achieving 40W-45W dual port fast charging while ensuring a mini body design. And for the application scenario of 40W-45W multi port output, encapsulated gallium nitride chips can be more useful.

At present, there are various forms of encapsulated gallium nitride on the market. This time, the charging head network mainly discusses the fully integrated encapsulated gallium nitride chip with built-in controller driver GaN. The advantage of this encapsulated gallium nitride chip is that most of the main functions and control circuits in the power system have been integrated into one chip, which can make the circuits on the PCB board more streamlined during the power design process.

The reduction in the number of peripheral components has lowered the requirement for PCB board area. In the development of miniaturized power products, only the minimum number of PCB boards is needed to complete the layout of all AC-DC components; By adding two secondary voltage reduction circuits to the output end, the development of dual USB-C port mini fast charging can be achieved.

In addition, compared to the gallium nitride solution of discrete devices, the encapsulated gallium nitride chip can save materials and reduce the layout difficulty for engineers to develop, with obvious advantages.

What are the types of encapsulated gallium nitride chips?

Thanks to the many advantages of fully integrated gallium nitride chips, multiple chip manufacturers in the industry have already laid out this product line in advance.

The table is ranked in no particular order, according to the first letter of the brand.

According to incomplete statistics from the charging head network, currently 12 manufacturers have laid out the market for fully integrated gallium nitride chips. Except for PI, a well-established manufacturer that has always taken the integrated route, all other manufacturers are local brands, including Dongke, Yutai, Global, Huayuan, Jiehuate, Biyiwei, Maoruixin, Angbao, Yachengwei, Nanxin, and Xisuwei. Up to 38 types of gallium nitride chips have been encapsulated, covering a power range of 20W-120W.

The following are some materials and related reference cases of the encapsulated gallium nitride chip compiled by Charging Head Network, hoping to be helpful for engineers to develop dual USB-C port mini fast charging chargers.