Rumor: Apple working on custom battery design to improve battery life in future products – 9to5Mac

Apple is rumored to be developing a custom in-house battery design, according to an industry report from ET News. Apple is apparently looking at using alternative cathode materials that will enhance the overall performance of the battery module, with an aim to increase the effective battery life of its future products.

Apple refers to its own batteries as ‘Apple-designed’ already, but what is described here would be a much deeper venture than we have seen before from the company. This was foreshadowed somewhat back in 2019 when Apple hired away a Samsung SDI exec to work on battery development.

Specifically, today’s report says that Apple is actively looking at using more silicon content inside the battery, rather than graphite.

A silicon-based approach would reportedly improve overall battery capacity and shorten charging times. However, silicon is prone to expanding during the charging process. Apple has apparently found a way to mitigate that issue.

All of this should still be considered for now as a medium to long term goal. The ET News report indicates that the new Apple batteries won’t show up in end-user products until 2025 or later.

On a somewhat related note, it has been previously reported that Apple designed a custom battery for the Apple Car electric vehicle project, although naturally that has yet to materialize in any shape or form.

Earlier this year, Apple committed to using 100% recycled colbalt in all ‘Apple-designed’ batteries by 2025, as part of its environmental initiatives.

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