Huawei has batteries charging 10x faster, 50% in 5 mins

In these days when smartphones flaunt octa-core processors of insane raw power, batteries have become the next most important and sought after spec. After all, the most powerful smartphone would be practically worthless if it lasted only half a day or so. Huawei, who also makes its own mobile processors, is well aware of that need. And now thanks to its Watt Lab research arm, it may have finally reached a solution, promising a lithium-ion battery that will leave even current quick charge batteries today in the dust.

The promise does sound too good to be true, but if Huawei pulls off without a hitch, it will probably be able to put its name on the front pages of the mobile industry again. The batteries that Watt Lab were able to produce were estimated to charge as much as 10 times faster than normal batteries. Of course that sounds all too vague, so here are some concrete test results.

One of the batteries developed carried a capacity of 600 mAh and charged from 0 to 68 percent in just two minutes. As you may imagine, this is going to be useful for wearables, thought the current form is still pretty much smartphone size.

The other battery is closer to home with a 3,000 mAh capacity. This one charges slower of course, but only so slightly. In just 5 minutes, it was able to get up to 48 percent, which could be good enough for 10 hours of phone calls on a typical Huawei smartphone.

Huawei is hardly the only tech company looking into better, faster charging batteries. But while many researches focus on changing the composition of batteries to achieve those results, Watt Lab has stuck with the common lithium-ion material. The difference was that it bonded heteroatoms to the graphite material used in batteries, which is claimed to speed up charging without deteriorating the battery itself.

Watt Lab's batteries have already been certified but only by Huawei's own test department. The company has not yet signified when it plans to put those batteries into production.

SOURCE: Huawei