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expectations
An expert in batteries explains why your phone won't last longer than a day
It’s all to do with what people and smartphone companies want.
WHILE SMARTPHONES HAVE advanced significantly, battery life has roughly stayed the same.
No matter how much smartphones and battery technology improve, we continue to be reaching for the charger at the end of the day. So why is this the case?
In the Reddit science section, the chief scientific officer at Wildcat Discovery Technology Dee Strand held an AMA (Ask Me Anything) dealing with the topic of lithium-ion batteries.
Among the many questions asked, one person wanted to know how far away we are before smartphones can last two to three days of heavy usage before needing to be charged again.
Strand’s answer was simple: batteries have improved but so too have phones. Since new phones require more battery power, one cancels out the other.
I love this question. The answer is never. With every improvement in the battery, the cell phone company wants to add more features (and so do you). Bigger screen, brighter display, more apps, touch screen features, etc. All those features are designed to work so that your phone can (hopefully) last a day with recharge overnight. The batteries will continue to get better, but the phone will continue to get even better.
But for now, until we discover a new battery type that can replace lithium-ion, you’ll have to make do with one-day battery life.
That is unless you decide to get a battery pack or cover for your phone, or just roll back the years and start using a Nokia 3310 again.
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