Solid-state batteries are coming! Just not for your phones or wearables yet

Battery technology in our mobile devices hasn’t really evolved that much. We’re still relying on li-ion batteries and the only improvements we’ve seen are charging speeds, but everything else like the safety issues of li-ion batteries, their size, and lifespan have more or less remained the same.

Samsung plans to change that. According to a report from The Korea Economic Daily, the Samsung SDI division is reportedly planning to start development on solid-state batteries.

For those unfamiliar, solid-state batteries are very different from traditional li-ion batteries. Instead of transferring ions between positive and negative electrodes, solid-state batteries rely on solid materials to make the transfer. As a result, they are considered safer and are also more energy dense.

This means that a solid-state battery with the same capacity as a li-ion battery can be made much smaller. This could be immensely useful in devices like wearables where there are space constraints, so if manufacturers could use solid-state batteries, we could see the battery life of wearables improve by leaps and bounds.

Now before you get too excited, it should be noted that the report claims that Samsung’s initial plan for solid-state batteries will be for EVs before it is eventually used in our mobile devices. Also, apparently Samsung’s plans for these batteries won’t be materializing anytime soon and are expected only in 2027, which means by the time it finds its way to mobile devices and wearables, it could easily be 2030.

That being said, the upside is that if Samsung is already starting development of these types of batteries, chances are there are other companies who are also working on the tech and might beat Samsung to the punch when it comes to solid-state batteries for mobile devices, but we’ll have to wait and see.

Source: Wccftech