Apple iPhone 15 Pro line-up: will the battery life be transformed in future iPhones?
A new report claims that Apple is going to design its own batteries in-house. Sure, they’re already described as designed by the company, but this could be a whole new ballgame. And since battery life is the key performance indicator, it could be great news.
The report comes from ET News and it explains that Apple is investigating a next-generation battery technology. This is not a new development but it looks like the battery could be another component Apple will take inhouse, alongside its silicon and, one day, its iPhone modems.
It will be a big change, the report claims, seeing the development of new materials, “such as cathode and anode materials,” it says, explaining that “cathode materials are key materials that determine performance such as battery energy density, output and stability.”
The report says it is “heard that Apple is pushing for a new composition that is completely different from the previous one in order to improve performance by making cathode materials by combining raw materials such as nickel, cobalt, manganese, and aluminum.”
There’s more detail, touching on carbon nanotubes which could be used as a conductive material to improve performance, and how silicon content could be increased to replace graphite, which would increase battery capacity and shorten charging and discharging time, it says.
Enough of the science, increased battery performance is universally to be welcomed. As devices such as phones and tablets become more capable and require faster computations that draw more power, the struggle to improve battery life continues.
The Apple Vision Pro requires an external battery to power it, attached by cable, and lasts a couple of hours, so imagine if that could be several times more efficient and allow for a smaller, lighter battery or much more screen time.
The report points out that Apple recruited a Samsung executive to work on its battery project. It also says that while the long-term aim could be for the long-predicted car, “mobile is the main target of battery development identified this time.”
That’s exciting, but there’s a sting in the tail: it won’t be ready until 2025 or later, meaning it’s the iPhone 17 or iPhone 18 that will benefit from this ground-breaking tech.
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