The iPhone 6 isn’t expected to get a huge battery upgrade, but in just a few years your next iPhone might be able to go weeks on a single charge.
Apple and British fuel-cell firm Intelligent Energy have supposedly been working on a secret partnership, according to The Daily Mail, that might bring embedded fuel cells with weeks of battery life to Apple’s armada of MacBooks, iPhones and iPads.
Not only would the adoption of fuel cells free iPhone owners from their wall-hugging bondage, the conversion of chemical energy into electricity is clean and highly efficient. Neither Apple or Intelligent Energy have acknowledge the secret partnership, but according to the report, the two companies are hoping to bring the fuel-cell technology to the market within a few years.
Intelligent Energy just purchased a bundle of patents for the practical application of fuel cells last December. If Apple is able to successfully adopt the technology in the iPhone it would mark a huge leap forward for energy-efficient devices and further distance from Samsung.
Apple and Intelligent Energy already share some connections, with Apple’s former computer product specialist, Joe O’Sullivan, now serving as Intelligent Energy’s COO. IE also recently opened an office in San Jose, California, just down the road from Apple HQ.
Along with the possibility of fuel cells, Apple is also rumored to be adopting new materials such as unbelievably scratch-resistant sapphire glass, and perhaps more Liquid Metal. The 4.7-inch iPhone 6 is expected to sport a modest 1,900mAh battery when it launches this fall, but it’s beefier brother, the 5.5-inch iBeast, will have a 2,500 mAh battery (if it ever makes it out the gate).
