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Apple patents point to larger batteries in future iPhones by eliminating wasted space and using anti-swelling tech

An x-ray of an iPhone 12 showing internal packaging including the battery. (Image: Creative Electron)
An x-ray of an iPhone 12 showing internal packaging including the battery. (Image: Creative Electron)
Two newly discovered Apple patents reveal how the company may be working to improve the battery life of its devices. One seeks to eliminate potential wasted space inside an iPhone while the other would utilize smart technologies to control battery swelling.

Only Apple would be so obsessed with “thinnovation” that it would engineer ways of improving the battery life of iPhones by pursuing every other avenue apart from increasing the thickness of its devices slightly. But that’s what two recently discovered Apple patents reveal the company is working on at the moment to improve the battery life in future iPhones. Both patents would solve the self-imposed “dilemma” of keeping an iPhone thin but enabling improved battery life at the same time.

The first of the two patents is called “Metal Can Battery” that would see Apple pack the components in a future iPhone even more tightly than it already does. With the way components are packaged around a battery at the moment, they can become corroded or be damaged in other ways if the battery container comes into contact with them. The Apple patent overcomes this problem by either using a rigid or semi rigid battery housing that would keep the battery safely separated from the components in question.

The second patent is titled “Methods for Determining and Controlling Battery Expansion”. Batteries, as we know, can expand and sometimes with disastrous consequences if they are packed too tightly with other components -- just ask Samsung. The second Apple patent would help complement the first patent by using a method of detecting battery expansion and throttle the charge a battery is receiving in response. The end results are not only longer lasting iPhones, but also safer iPhones potentially in the pipeline.

Buy the iPhone 12 from Amazon.

An image illustrating Apple's proposed battery housing. (Image: Apple)
An image illustrating Apple's proposed battery housing. (Image: Apple)

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> Expert Reviews and News on Laptops, Smartphones and Tech Innovations > News > News Archive > Newsarchive 2021 03 > Apple patents point to larger batteries in future iPhones by eliminating wasted space and using anti-swelling tech
Sanjiv Sathiah, 2021-03-12 (Update: 2021-03-12)