Wireless Charging and silicon anode batteries are some of the technologies which may transform the way we power our mobile devices. ABI Research, a provider of analysis and research in global connectivity and other emerging technologies said in its Wearables and Smart Accessories Market Research that while mobile devices including wearables have grown by leaps and bounds in terms of form factor, features, capabilities and applications, the charging technology has somewhat stagnated with Lithium and graphite batteries and one-to-one wired charging solutions (typically Micro-USB chargers) being the only methods by which most of these devices are powered. By 2019, there will be 8 billion mobile devices requiring charging, said ABI.
According to ABI, the slow progress in the development of new charging technologies is becoming a challenge to the use and development in the devices themselves as their charging requires bulky wires and adapters and constant access to charging facilities. With richer applications now being accessed on these devices and with household and industrial M2M applications requiring more power to support the transmission of the large amounts of data, charging remains an area that requires revolutionary changes to support newer applications and functionalities provided on today's mobile devices.
ABI said that players such as Amprius and Leyden Energy are already producing silicon anode batteries, an alternative to present batteries. At the same time, there have been some breakthroughts in the Germanium and pure Lithium battery variants. As for wireless charging, inductive charging mats which were introduced in recent years, are seeing reduction in prices and more adoption in public environments such as cafes and airports. Apart from the inductive charging mats, other possible wireless charging technologies expected to debut in future include the ambient radio frequency energy harvesting and beamed radio frequency energy routed to the mobile, added ABI.
"Mobile device hardware, software, and usage have developed at an incredible rate in recent years, from network speeds, to screen resolution and size, to processing power. End user’s reliance on their smartphones also grows and grows, with mobile data usage experiencing exponential growth. One crucial part of the overall solution, battery life and charging technology, has been a laggard to date. Short battery life remains the biggest irritation to smartphone users and is a clear opportunity for handset vendors and carriers to improve the user experience by adopting new, longer-lasting battery technologies. Additionally, the growth in size-constrained wearable devices makes the problem even more acute."
"The opportunity is enormous. ABI Research estimates that the average advanced market home has over 10 untethered devices with rechargeable batteries today. The growth in wearables driven by the likes of Samsung and now Apple will increase this number further, along with the Internet of Things, and even electric cars. Battery technology is holding these innovative growth industries back and the rate of change, in what is admittedly a huge supply chain, is a concern."
- Nick Spencer, senior practice director, ABI Research
