It seems like Samsung is planning to bring graphene batteries to smartphones in the coming years. This information has been shared by Evan Blass aka @evleaks, via his official Twitter account.
Mr. Blass says that Samsung is considering lithium-ion batteries to be “suboptimal”, which is why it wants to bring graphene ones to the table. Mr. Blass’ source told him that a smartphone with such a battery will arrive in either 2020 or 2021.
Now, that may not sound like huge news on its own, but… it is. Do note that graphene batteries are a considerable improvement on their own, but that’s not all. You’ll actually be able to recharge them in under half an hour, says the source.
A step in the right direction
Graphene is actually highly conductive and elastic, and is considered to be the next big step in the battery department. Graphene can be implemented into smaller, slimmer battery packs with higher capacity. It can also handle a considerably higher voltage, without considerable differences in temperature. Those are all benefits compared to lithium-ion batteries.
Samsung did introduce this technology a while back, but the company noted that the costs are too high to manufacture them. That made it impossible for the company to mass-produce devices equipped with such batteries. It seems like Samsung figured out how to lower costs, and is getting ready to push the project forward.
It is safe to assume that the first smartphone with a graphene battery will be a high-end phone. Samsung may include such a battery in its 2020 or 2021 Galaxy S or Galaxy Note series smartphone(s). On the other hand, the company may opt to debut such a battery in a foldable smartphone, we’ll see. It’s hard to predict as many things can change in a year or two.
It is much more likely that we’ll see such technology in 2021, and not next year, but Samsung may surprise us. Battery technology did not really change in a long time, but charging has improved.
Many smartphone manufacturers offer extremely fast charging for their smartphones these days. Samsung finally decided to up its game in that department with the Galaxy Note 10 series. Those two phones offer 25W charging out of the box, while the Galaxy Note 10+ supports 45W charging with a compatible charger.
A report which surfaced yesterday claims that a 25W charger can charge up the Note 10+ in about 64 minutes. That is actually faster than anyone expected, but it needs to be confirmed. OnePlus offers 30W charging on its flagship, while Huawei provides 40W charging on its latest and greatest smartphone.
Graphene batteries will surely change the game, even though it’s difficult for regular users to get excited about something like that. That will be more of an under-the-hood change that not many users will understand, but will benefit from. We’ve been waiting for a long time for battery technology to change, as everything else did, except that. Samsung may be the first company to offer graphene batteries, and chances are it will license that technology to other companies.