I would like the iPhone 16’s ultra-fast charging to revolutionize the battery, but the real revolution will come later
When Apple unveils the highly anticipated iPhone 16 lineup at its Glowtime event on September 10, it will likely tout innovations in photography, design, and especially AI (that’s Apple Intelligence), but I’ll be watching for news on two key features: battery life and charging speed. Unfortunately, I’m not expecting the big innovations I’d like to see, at least not this year.
Unlike the leaps that artificial intelligence is making in the smartphone space, the pace of innovation in battery technology is more tectonic. Sure, there have been improvements in capacity, efficiency and safety, but the lion’s share of the battery life extension we’re getting in our best iPhones is coming from software management, including AI, which, as Apple told me a few years ago, works in the background to manage battery usage and lifespan.
The iPhone 16 lineup expected this year could potentially get larger batteries in the iPhone 16 Pro and iPhone 16 Pro Max. Adding 5.7% and 9.2% larger batteries in those phones, respectively, is likely a matter of shrinking components and freeing up space, rather than a breakthrough in performance. The current batteries are reportedly 4,383mAh in the iPhone 15 Pro and 4,444mAh in the iPhone 15 Pro Max (Apple doesn’t disclose its own battery capacity). I don’t think those increases will bring the new iPhone 16 family to 5,000mAh, though I’d love to see them get there this year.
There are also rumors that the range will finally get ultra-fast charging capabilities. This means you can go from, say, 50% charge in 30 minutes with a 20W charger to 100% in 65 minutes with a supposedly new 43W ultra-fast charger (which, by the way, certainly won’t come free with an iPhone).
I will welcome these changes, like everyone else, but they are not the battery innovations I really want. It is surely time for smartphone batteries to no longer last a day, but a week, and maintain their full charge capacity for the entire life of the phone.
The future of batteries
Some of this is possible with a technology that Apple and others are reportedly working on: solid-state batteries. As the name suggests, these batteries replace the fluid in traditional lithium-ion batteries, usually liquid electrolytes that trigger the chemical reaction (movement of ions) to produce electricity, with a solid material such as ceramic or silicon.
The potential benefits of solid-state batteries include greater safety (liquid is more volatile than solid), more energy in a smaller space thanks to higher density, longer lifespan, faster charging and a smaller carbon footprint.
Sounds good, right? Rumor has it that Apple is working on this technology for future iPhones, but I don’t mean the immediate future. There’s virtually no chance that solid-state batteries will be used in the iPhone 16. Some prognosticators believe Apple is looking ahead to 2026, which would mean the iPhone 18. Maybe that’s possible. However, the current limitation of solid-state batteries is size. Yes, even smartphone-sized solid-state batteries could be a problem.
There is virtually no chance that the iPhone 16 will use solid-state batteries.
TDK, the company that supplies most of Apple’s iPhone batteries, is working hard on solid-state battery technology, but its recent breakthroughs are only suitable for watch batteries. The ceramic TDK uses in these batteries is far more fragile than what you’d find in a traditional lithium-ion iPhone battery, and developing solid-state battery technology to smartphone size may not be possible for some time. Not until Apple and TDK figure out how to make a thin, light, and ultra-strong housing for the solid-state battery that fits inside a traditional iPhone without making it twice the size of an iPhone 16 Pro Max.
We can expect some meaningful battery updates for the iPhone 16, but our battery life won’t change until TDK and other researchers figure out how to scale up solid-state batteries to the size of the best iPhone. That won’t be the iPhone 16; it could be the iPhone 18, but more likely it will be somewhere in the iPhone 20 range.
