Two of the reasons Apple’s iPhone is yet to adopt LTE connectivity is that existing LTE chips are just too large for the iPhone’s slender form factor, and they eat up so much power your new iPhone 4S wouldn’t even last the six hours that you currently get if it was hooked up to an LTE network.
However, a new Apple patent application reveals that the Cupertino company has already set about revolutionizing its batteries to make them thinner and more efficient — possibly making way for LTE connectivity in the iPhone 5.
Future iOS devices and even MacBooks could benefit from better battery life thanks to revolutionary batteries built up of electrode sheets of varying dimensions. The batteries could lose their traditional rectangular shape in favor of a custom design tailored to the device.
For example, your new iPhone could feature an L-shaped battery that fits in around its components, providing greater capacity and better efficiency.
Apple’s patent, which was discovered by Patently Apple, includes a number of battery designs in all sorts of shapes and sizes. In one example (above), Apple uses an iPad to demonstrate a battery that fits behind the device’s bezel and extends all the way around the edge of the device, leaving the entire center open for the device’s other components.
Not only do the batteries save space inside each device, but they could allow for thinner, lighter devices that maintain the lengthy battery life we’ve become used to from iOS devices and MacBooks.
[via iDownloadBlog]
