Next MacBook Airs Could Have 33% More Battery Life

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A new Apple patent that details battery and solid state drive configurations for the company’s MacBook Air suggests that future models will boast battery life that significantly exceeds the 7 hours offered by today’s ultraportable.

Unlike most of Apple’s patents, which surface from the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office, this one comes from China’s Hong Kong IP Office, via Patently Apple, and is labeled with the reference 1100639.8M001. It describes a new battery configuration for an “electronic device,” and illustrates six enclosed battery components — two more than the four featured in existing MacBooks.

While the MacBook Air isn’t mentioned in the patent, it seems to be the device that Apple uses in its illustrations. Those two additional battery components could translate to 33% more battery for a future MacBook Air, and possibly the MacBook Pro, too.

Also included with the patent is a new solid state drive configuration. Apple’s new SSD design is different to that currently used, but it’s unclear at this point what advantage these changes will introduce.

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