Silicon-carbon battery technology could have changed the fate of the iPhone Air

By using silicon-carbon batteries, Apple could have avoided the criticism of the weak battery in the iPhone Air concept model. Using this new technology made it possible to design a very slim device without sacrificing battery life. In fact, by leaving its safe zone and choosing these batteries from the very beginning, this company could offer a much more efficient product and gain the satisfaction of users.

According to the mobile section of Tekna technology news media, silicon-carbon batteries have a slight difference from conventional lithium-ion batteries, and this difference is due to the choice of the anode material. In this type of batteries, silicon is used instead of graphite. More specifically, the anode is composed of a silicon-carbon nanostructured composite material that dramatically increases energy storage capacity, allowing for smaller batteries with the same capacity or similar-sized batteries with greater capacity.

The capacity of silicon-carbon batteries to absorb lithium ions is up to ten times higher than conventional batteries. This feature, which was considered a major challenge in the past due to swelling and deformation of the anode, has now been overcome by adding fracture-resistant carbon nanostructures to silicon. This innovation allows manufacturers to replace graphite powder with a silicon-carbon compound without changing their manufacturing processes.

For comparison, we can refer to two smartphones. With a thickness of 5.6 mm, the iPhone Air is only slightly thinner than the Tecno Pova Slim 5G. However, the Techno phone uses a 5160 mAh silicon-carbon battery, while the iPhone Air’s battery capacity is 3149 mAh. This means that the iPhone Air, despite being 6% less thick, has a battery with a capacity of about 39% smaller.

If Apple had decided to ship the iPhone Air with a silicon-carbon battery of around 5,000 mAh, it could have easily provided users with excellent battery life. Even though these batteries expand by about 20% when fully charged, this technology is still an ideal solution to combine slim design and powerful battery performance, and could have had a different fate for this device.