When Apple unveils its anticipated iPhone 16 lineup at its September 10 Glowtime occasion, it’s going to possible tout improvements in images, design, and particularly AI (that is Apple Intelligence), however I’ll be listening for information on a pair of key options: battery life and cost speeds. Sadly, I do not count on the most important innovation I would like, at the least not this 12 months.
Unlike the leaps that synthetic intelligence is making throughout the smartphone spectrum, battery expertise’s tempo of innovation is extra tectonic. Sure, there have been updates in capacities, effectivity, and security, however the lion’s share of battery life extension we get in our greatest iPhones comes by software program administration, together with AI that, as Apple advised me some years in the past, works within the background to handle battery use and longevity.
This 12 months’s anticipated iPhone 16 line may presumably get bigger batteries within the iPhone 16 Pro and iPhone 16 Pro Max. Adding 5.7% and 9.2% bigger batteries in these telephones is probably going a matter of shrinking elements and leaving extra room, not some energy breakthrough. The present batteries are reportedly 4,383 mAh on the iPhone 15 Pro and 4,444 mAh on the iPhone 15 Pro Max (Apple would not publicize its personal battery capability). I do not assume these will increase convey the brand new iPhone 16 household to five,000 mAh, although I’d like to see them get there this 12 months.
There are additionally whispers that the lineup will lastly get ultra-fast charging capabilities. This means switching from, say, a 50% cost in half-hour with a 20W charger to, maybe, 100% in 65 minutes with a rumored new 43W ultrafast charger (one, by the way in which, that may certainly not ship without cost with any iPhone).
I, like everybody else, will welcome these adjustments however they don’t seem to be the battery innovation I actually need. Surely, it is time for smartphone batteries to make the shift from a day of cost to per week, and to keep up full recharge capability for the total lifespan of the cellphone.
The way forward for batteries
Some of that is potential with a expertise that experiences counsel Apple and others are engaged on proper now: Solid-state batteries. As the identify implies, these batteries exchange the liquid in conventional lithium-ion batteries, sometimes liquid electrolytes that produce the chemical response (shifting ions) to make energy, with a stable materials like ceramics or silicon.
Potential advantages of solid-state batteries embrace elevated security (liquid is extra risky than stable), extra vitality out of a smaller house because of better density, higher longevity, sooner charging, and a decrease carbon footprint.
Sounds good, proper? Rumors declare Apple is engaged on this expertise for future iPhones, however I don’t imply the fast future. There is actually zero probability that solid-state batteries will arrive within the iPhone 16. Some prognosticators imagine Apple is eyeing 2026, which might imply the iPhone 18. Maybe that is potential. However, the present limitation of solid-state batteries is measurement. Yes, even smartphone-sized solid-state batteries is likely to be an issue.
There is actually zero probability that solid-state batteries will arrive within the iPhone 16.
TDK, the corporate that provides most of Apple’s iPhone batteries, is tough at work on solid-state battery expertise, however its current breakthroughs are solely usable in watch-sized batteries. The ceramic that TDK is utilizing in these batteries is much extra fragile than what you’d discover in a conventional lithium-ion iPhone battery, and rising solid-state battery expertise as much as smartphone measurement may not be potential for a while. Not till Apple and TDK can determine the best way to make a skinny, light-weight, and ultra-strong housing for the solid-state battery, one that may slot in a conventional iPhone with out making it twice the scale of an iPhone 16 Pro Max.
We can count on some worthwhile battery updates within the iPhone 16, however our battery lives will not change till TDK and different researchers determine the best way to enhance solid-state batteries to your finest iPhone’s measurement. That will not be the iPhone 16; it is likely to be the iPhone 18, however is extra possible someplace within the iPhone 20 vary.
