The battery life of smartphones has been improved in the past few years. However, users who intend to charge up to 100 percent will still require more time than they can afford.
During the Battery Symposium in Japan on Nov. 13, 2015, Huawei, the No. 1 smartphone manufacturer in China, stated that it has a new smartphone battery that can charge 10 times faster compared to current batteries. The company featured a 3000mAh lithium-ion battery that charged to 48 percent capacity in a mere five minutes. Huawei also showed a smaller 600mAh capacity battery that charged to 68 percent in just two minutes, CNN reported. According to the company, the new technology will change how lithium ions are stored and transfer within the batteries, thereby boosting overall charging speed.
"Soon, we will all be able to charge our batteries to full power in the time it takes to grab a coffee!" Huawei said.
Techno Buffalo revealed that the new charging approach was developed at the Huawei Central Research Institute in a division referred to as “Watt Lab.” Based on the demonstration at the event, regular-sized smartphones with a battery capacity of about 1500mAh can charge their devices for only two minutes and expect it to stay operational for the next 24 hours. The new discovery makes Huawei’s battery charging approach the fastest to date. It is even faster compared to Samsung’s Adaptive Fast Charging and Qualcomm’s Quick Charge.
The company stated that it is confident that its new technology can also find applications outside the mobile phone industry. The same approach can be used to shorten the charging times of wearable tech and electric cars, among others. Huawei is expected to license their new technology to other companies to be used in other devices. If Apple takes advantage of the technology, charging a 1715mAh iPhone will only take less than seven minutes, Tech Times revealed.
In the meantime, CNN wrote that Energous, Intelligent Energy, Nikola Labs and other energy companies are also developing ways to attain faster charging times or longer overall battery life. Intelligent Energy is allegedly working on an iPhone 6 battery prototype that does not require charging for seven days. Others are trying the effect of radio waves in charging.
The enhanced battery by Huawei is yet to debut in a device. Users might soon find a device that boasts of charging to100 percent in less than five minutes. More updates and details on the new technology are expected in the following months.