Tag: smartphone batteries

Samsung looks to LG Chem as potential smartphone battery supplier

The two companies are reportedly in talks to put the fire-prone power sources in the electronics giant’s past.

Following massive problems with smartphone battery safety, Samsung Electronics Co Ltd is reportedly now in talks with LG Chem Ltd to become a new supplier. This was originally reported in the Nikkei newspaper, which also cited reputable sources.

The largest smartphone maker in the world was forced to dump its new flagship device due to battery fires.

Recently, Samsung reported that ceasing production due to the faulty smartphone battery will cost them an estimated $3 billion over the next two quarters. The Galaxy Note 7 power source proved to be prone to bursting into flames and despite recalls and replacements, it could not be salvaged.

Smartphone Battery - SamsungThe original problem had to do with the mobile device batteries overheating. Therefore, replacement devices started to be distributed among those who had already purchased a Galaxy Note 7. However, the problems didn’t stop there. Soon, reports were issued of overheating devices occurring among the replacements, too.

Samsung has not specified whether the smartphone battery was also the cause of the replacement problems.

So far, Samsung has not provided any information as to what they think the cause of the problems with the replacements might be. That said, it does appear to be looking into an alternative source of mobile device batteries for future smartphones.

Samsung and LG Chem are talking about the various ways in which new batteries can be supplied to upcoming smartphones. The report in the Nikkei newspaper said that this would begin with the new smartphones that are launched in 2017.

Samsung SDI Co Ldt, a subsidiary of the electronics giant, is currently the leading supplier of phone batteries for the Galaxy Note 7. It was responsible for providing about 70 percent of the smartphone’s batteries worldwide. This, according to estimates presented by analysts.

At the time of the writing of this article, the specific details of the smartphone battery talks between Samsung and LG Chem were not released. Moreover, the two companies were not available for immediate comment outside their standard business hours.

Sony is working on a 40 percent longer lasting smartphone batteries

The company is hoping to help to overcome a battery life struggle that is holding back the mobile industry.

As smartphone manufacturers increasingly show that they are unwilling to produce thicker devices in order to accommodate longer lasting smartphone batteries, Sony has taken on the task of developing a power source that will last about forty percent longer than the current average without requiring more space.

The majority of consumers are required to charge their smartphones every night to accommodate the next day’s use.

A new announcement has showed that Sony is coming up with considerably more energy efficient types of smartphone batteries using technology that should become available in the consumer market by 2020. This new tech uses magnesium and sulfur based electrodes in order to form a power source that will hold about 40 percent more power than Li-ion battery cells of the same physical size.

Researchers have been looking into smartphone batteries based on lithium-sulfur for some time now.

Smartphone Batteries - SonyHowever, the problem that has been faced is in making a stable environment in which to contain the sulfur. Without accomplishing that goal, the sulfur breaks down very quickly and once it has degraded it will not perform as a component of the mobile device battery. That said, based on the latest reports from Sony, it looks as though that company may have been able to come up with a new way to maintain the stability of the sulfur and, therefore, make it usable in a practical way as a part of a more powerful battery.

That said, Sony has also reported that it is testing out a battery that combines sulphur and magnesium. It is believed that they are doing this because they want to overcome one of the struggles that are presented by using lithium, which is its own degradation over time, eventually turning the substance into a fire hazard. By using a rechargeable power source that does not contain lithium, it’s possible to boost the safety to consumers.

That said, after all the research Sony is doing into smartphone batteries with better performance, it could possibly be that nothing will result. However, when taking into consideration that it was Sony that came up with the Li-ion commercially viable battery in the first place, the company has shown that it knows what it is doing in that area.