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Android, iPhone Battery Life Could Last 7 Days? Fuel-Cell Maker Says It’s A Possibility

By Thomas Kuegler
Published on: 00:56 PST, Feb 9, 2016

The iPhone’s battery life is a problem. Luckily, UK-Based company Intelligent Energy is about to fix all of that with a seven-day battery. They say that they’re creating a fuel cell small enough to fit inside a smartphone that can power it for a week. The implications that could have for Android and iPhone battery life would change the game entirely.

Digital Trends reports the seven-day battery technology could see the light of day in two years, and an unnamed smartphone developer has backed the development with a hefty $7.6 million investment.

Intelligent Energy’s Julian Hughes said, “We believe embedding fuel cell technology into portable devices provides a solution to the current dilemma of battery life and with consumers demanding more and more from their phones, battery innovation has not kept up.”

This can definitely be confirmed by smartphone users everywhere. Yesterday, there was breaking news about how deleting the Facebook app and using a web browser instead could save the battery life by 15 percent. With the implementation of a seven-day battery, that kind of advice will no longer be relevant.

Hughes elaborated, saying the fuel-cell technology is “a solution that is clean and efficient and means consumers could be truly mobile and free from the constraints of the grid.”

The fuel cell technology is environmentally friendly and creates power by combining hydrogen and oxygen. Over the last two years, reports have suggested that Intelligent Energy was working closely with Apple on a similar fuel-cell technology, but no partnership was ever on record.

The company did, however, develop a prototype fuel cell solution based on an iPhone. Intelligent Energy CEO Henri Winand said his workers “managed to make a fuel cell so thin we can fit it to the existing chassis without alterations and retaining the original battery.”

There’s talk that Intelligent Energy has already put some of the finishing touches on the technology, and they’re just trying to refine it for widespread commercialization.

“With consumer power demands increasing and the advent of the ‘Internet of Things’ making the world more connected than ever, now is the time to address the biggest limitation we have in achieving true connectivity – battery life,” Julian Hughes said.

In two years, the iPhone might have a seven-day battery — but what about now? Rumors are swirling that the iPhone 7 is going to be slimmer than ever, which may or may not affect the battery life.

Expert Reviews reports that rumors suggest the iPhone 7 might be between 6mm and 6.5mm thick. The iPhone 6s is currently sitting at 7mm thick. This slimming down of the phone might impact the battery life of the iPhone 7 in a negative way.

Other rumors include the device being waterproof.

David Ludlow wrote, “This rumour started back in 2014 with an Apple Patent application, which has since been granted, for a technique known as Plasma-Assisted Chemical Vapour Deposition (PACVD) to coat the internal components and make them water resistant.”

“The benefit of this method is that the case doesn’t have to be made completely waterproof, which adds weight and bulk into a design, not to mention design issues. While there are third-party companies that will waterproof your phone’s components internally, doing so can invalidate your warranty, so a manufacturer-installed option is considerably better.”

Waterproof iPhones, seven-day battery life — all of these things seem pretty advanced, but if the fuel-cell company is correct, significantly longer battery life for smartphones could be coming in two years.

[Photo by Ken Ishii/Getty Images]

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