Samsung on Tuesday announced the launch of two new chips that it says will support secure, fast-charging USB-C power delivery controllers. One of them, the SE8A, is what the company calls the industry’s first solution that combines a power delivery controller and Secure Element in a single chip, offering new protections like security key storage.
Another result of the development of these new power delivery controllers is that Samsung’s power chargers will now be able to support up to a 100W capacity: A 10x improvement over the 10W of a general smartphone charger.
“In addition to smarter features and larger batteries, innovative charging solutions allow us to do more through our mobile devices today,” said Samsung senior vice president Ben K. Hur. “Following this trend, power adapters that can quickly charge devices while establishing safeguards against unauthorized access are increasingly in demand.”
The new MM101 and SE8A power delivery controllers Samsung announced today, he continued, will not only make charging faster and safer but also enable new services that can enrich future mobile experiences.
Samsung said the MM101 supports a symmetric encryption algorithm called the Advanced Encryption Standard that enables product authentication and includes moisture sensing capabilities to ensure safer charging conditions.
The SE8A supports USB Type-C Authentication, the certificate-based authentication program for USB-C chargers and devices. “With enhanced security,” Samsung explained in the announcement, “the SE8A opens possibilities for new kinds of content and services that may be exclusive to a certain brand, location or event.”
Today’s announcement is also significant because Samsung says the new power delivery controllers meet the most recent USB specs for fast-charging which addresses things like compatibility and efficiency challenges across mobile devices and other electronics. Those challenges can have effects like causing a device to, for example, charge slower than usual in addition to compromising the battery’s life cycle.
