New technology doubles smartphone battery capacity

A battery with higher capacity but similar size to lithium-ion will be put into phones as early as 2017.

The new lithium-metal technology is considered a breakthrough, helping batteries contain twice as many ions as lithium-ion. Thanks to that, manufacturers can produce phone models with long battery life, or launch ultra-thin smartphones while still ensuring battery life similar to products currently on the market.

This technology was developed by SolidEnergy Systems, a company at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in the US, and is expected to be used in smartphones, electric cars, and wearable devices in the next few months. The company is in the final stages of copyright certification.

"The lithium-metal solution allows us to produce batteries that are half the size of today's while still maintaining the same battery life," said Qichao Hu, director of SolidEnergy.

2017 iPhone could have twice the battery life if it adopts lithium-metal.

Battery is always one of the first criteria users consider when choosing to buy a smartphone. Although smartphones are constantly improved and have many attractive features added over the years, the battery is still a headache. Battery technology has remained almost unchanged for a long time. Therefore, manufacturers can only extend battery life with software solutions such as switching the screen to black and white mode to save battery, integrating low-power consumption processors, etc.

According to VNE