Samsung Reportedly Said to Bring ‘Safer’ Batteries in Smartphones in 2020

Staff Writer July 4, 2017

1 minute read

Last year, Samsung received a lot of flak due to the Galaxy Note 7 fiasco. The South Korean technology giant later confirmed that the cause of explosions in its smartphones were faulty batteries, and eventually discontinued the phablet.

In order to ensure that things like these don’t happen in future, Samsung is seemingly looking forward to manufacturing solid-state batteries for smartphones. According to the Korean Herald website, the company will be able to manufacture these batteries within the next two years.

For those unaware, solid state batteries provide more durability and longevity as compared to standard lithium-ion batteries. The latter include solid electrolytes, which are less-likely to get ignited on coming in touch with outside air or water. On the other hand, Li-ion batteries use liquid ions that explode on coming in contact with with air and water.

“Our technological level to produce a solid-state battery for smartphones will be mature enough in one to two years. However, it depends on Samsung Electronics whether it will be used for phones. (…) As far as I know, the level of battery technology of our rival firm (LG Chem) is also similar to us,” said Samsung SDI’s executives to the Korean news website.

Talking about exploding batteries and the Galaxy Note 7, Samsung has just launched its refurbished Galaxy Note 7, called Galaxy Note 7 Fan Edition (aka the Galaxy Note 7R), in its home country of South Korea. The handset maker will be making the device available starting July 7 and aims to sell only 400,000 units of it in South Korea. There is no word if the phablet will be reaching other regions or not.[related-posts]

The hardware of the Galaxy Note 7 Fan Edition is the same as that of the original Note 7. However, its battery capacity has been toned down to 3,200mAh. The smartphone also has Samsung’s Bixby AI virtual assistant, which debuted earlier this year with the Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S8+ smartphones.

source: Gadgets Now Bureau (and inputs from ToI)