Problems of low batteries could be a thing of the past in the near future as top smartphone maker, Huawei, says it has invented a new technology which makes battery charge ten times faster than usual.
During a recent industry event in Japan Huawei showed off a lithium-ion battery that charged to 48% capacity in five minutes. The battery had a capacity of 3000 mAh.
The company also made another demonstration with a smaller, 600 mAh capacity battery that reached 68% in two minutes.
The Samsung Galaxy S6 has a 2550 mAh battery and the iPhone 6 uses an 1810 mAh battery, according to iFixit. These flagship phones could have their battery charged fully in less than 30 minutes with the new technology.
Huawei said it designed the new tech using heteroatoms, which for the most part changes how litium ions are stored and move inside a battery.
The company further explained that the design allows for a faster transferal of energy between the atoms which in turn results into faster charging of the battery.
The design doesn’t damage battery life, it added.
“This breakthrough in quick charging batteries will lead to a new revolution in electronic devices, especially with regard to mobile phones, electric vehicles, wearable devices, and mobile power supplies,”
the company said later in a statement.
“Soon, we will all be able to charge our batteries to full power in the time it takes to grab a coffee!”
Huawei said.
The top smartphone maker in China added that it’s “confident” that the discovery will lead to big changes in mobile phones, electric cars and other devices.
Huawei isn’t the first company to try to improve on the charging process of phone batteries; other companies are also researching how to make the process better.
Energous, Nikola Labs and a small handful of others are working on ways to charge gadgets using radio waves. The technology is expected to be made available in a matter of months.
Also British hydrogen fuel cell maker Intelligent Energy says it has a working prototype of an iPhone 6 battery that doesn’t need to be charged for seven days.