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TSE

macrumors 601
Original poster
Jun 25, 2007
4,032
3,547
St. Paul, Minnesota
All jokes aside, we've been dealing with the same battery tech by and large since the 80's. Processors, Screens, Storage, GPUs, all have made tremendous leaps in terms of efficiency.

Are there any rumblings about the next leap in battery tech coming out? Who the players are behind it? And when can we expect a week long battery life in our Apple Silicon laptops?

(btw also asking for investment purposes, too. :))
 

Blue Quark

macrumors regular
Oct 25, 2020
196
147
Probabilistic
If I had to guess, I'm betting the transportation industry is going to be the primary mover-n-shaker. For the first time, both transportation and technology are in a sense in the same boat because the future of cars, trucks, bikes, planes, etc., is electric, no matter how you slice it.

Dianna Cowern, aka Physics Girl, has done a series on this very subject. The link I posted is just to one of a series of videos she's made, with that one on Electric cars. And just as you weren't actually proposing nuclear-powered computers, I'm not suggesting hydrogen fuel cell-powered computers, either, but the point I'm trying to make is this has become a much larger thing than just computers.

There's, for example, another type of battery called "solid state". Who knows: even that might take over from LiIon.

Right now, Chile is in the process of re-writing their constitution to take into account environmentalism, the so-called "green future" and the fact that they're sitting on one of the world's largest deposits of lithium. I mean — and frankly I'm the furthest thing from an expert — the situation has become highly complicated. So, if you're looking for investment advice, likely the most sensible thing would be to diversify, splitting your money across two different industries: power sources, and power distribution.
 

bobcomer

macrumors 601
May 18, 2015
4,949
3,699
All jokes aside, we've been dealing with the same battery tech by and large since the 80's. Processors, Screens, Storage, GPUs, all have made tremendous leaps in terms of efficiency.

Are there any rumblings about the next leap in battery tech coming out? Who the players are behind it? And when can we expect a week long battery life in our Apple Silicon laptops?

(btw also asking for investment purposes, too. :))
I think Solid State batteries are starting to be available. No miracle much better than LiON batteries yet though. There's problems in designing high capacity batteries that don't either burn up or stop holding a charge pretty fast.

It would probably be better to go back and develop more of Tesla's work on transmitting power.
 

senttoschool

macrumors 68030
Nov 2, 2017
2,626
5,482
And when can we expect a week long battery life in our Apple Silicon laptops?
To be honest, Apple can actually do this now. Certainly with 3nm tech. But they'd have to drastically slow down the SoC and use low-power display panels. The experience would still be acceptable. But no one wants a week-long battery life.
 

Apple Knowledge Navigator

macrumors 68040
Mar 28, 2010
3,692
12,912
I expect more from Apple. I expect kinetic energy.

I move steely legs about 18,000 steps a day (no kidding), and what do I have to show for it? Zilch. Nadathing. Okay so my abs are tighter than a duck's kahoney, but I'm not impressed that my iPhone gets tired quicker than me! Baahhhhh
 
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senttoschool

macrumors 68030
Nov 2, 2017
2,626
5,482
Dunno if this is true. I think it's more accurate to say people probably won't accept week-long battery life if the compromises you mentioned are necessary to get there.
That’s implied, yes. Week long battery life means sacrifices. What I really meant was that no one wants a week long battery life laptop if it meant slower speeds and lesser displays.

I thought it was obvious?

Even if we had a breakthrough battery advancement, Apple would simply increase the power of the SoC and display proportionally.

The only case where a week long battery life makes sense is if someone is going off the grid for a week. But anyone who does that would have a mobile power solution already.
 

satcomer

Suspended
Feb 19, 2008
9,115
1,977
The Finger Lakes Region
All jokes aside, we've been dealing with the same battery tech by and large since the 80's. Processors, Screens, Storage, GPUs, all have made tremendous leaps in terms of efficiency.

Are there any rumblings about the next leap in battery tech coming out? Who the players are behind it? And when can we expect a week long battery life in our Apple Silicon laptops?

(btw also asking for investment purposes, too. :))

The new battery in the base Model 3 2022 called the LFP battery! it has longer life a new kind of battery that won't have the fire an is spun up to make it! It's not as dense as the lithium batteries and can be use for twice the lifetime!
 

JohnHerzog

macrumors member
Nov 16, 2021
73
38
Wireless power transmission. This company has been on my radar for some time. They have a method for transmitting up to 1 watt OTA on the same bandwidth as bluetooth and wifi. https://www.ossia.com
 

JMacHack

Suspended
Mar 16, 2017
1,965
2,424
As mentioned above, LiPo is relatively new tech.

I’m no battery expert, so feel free to ignore anything I say. I think the future is with Sodium Ion or solid state batteries.

Sodium ion is easier to source, although it holds less charge, and everyone I know who knows electronics better than me has been talking up solid state batteries.
 
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