The world of smartphones is divided in two: a Chinese market betting on gigantic silicon-carbon and some “traditional” manufacturers who do not dare to take the leap. This weekend, the controversy was sparked by YouTuber Marques Brownlee, after publishing a video that has surpassed one million views in less than 24 hours.
what has happened. “The problem with smartphone batteries”is the title of a video that has spread like wildfire among the community tech. In it, he explained some of the problems that silicon-carbon batteries supposedly suffer from, a technology that China is betting on to boost the capacity of its phones. above 10,000mAh.
The problems. Silicon-carbon batteries are not a new technology, but they have been starting to be implemented in smartphones for just two years. During this time, there are several concerns on the table.
- Possible swelling due to the expansion of silicon: with each charge, a battery contracts and expands. Silicon can triple its volume, generating greater internal stresses in the battery. At the same time, there are fears that this expansion-contraction cycle could cause cracks and leaks in the battery.
- Need for reinforcement in battery compartment (such as small steel cages) to contain swelling.
- Long-term reliability not yet demonstrated in smartphones.
Yes, but. Concerns about whether silicon-carbon batteries are safe or not are legitimate. Just as, back in the day, we were worried that a mobile phone with “fast” charging like the OnePlus 3 in 2016 (those times when Dash Charge was 30W) could explode. Today there are already mobile phones with 120W.
The first commercial mobile phone to incorporate this type of battery was the Honor Magic 5 Pro in its Chinese version. No cases of the slightest problem have been reported to date in its more than two years of life.
Manufacturers do not go crazy. Manufacturers are more than aware of the possible dangers that these types of batteries can have, and equip their phones with specific chips to control the charge in real time if excess heat is detected.
Some brands, like Honor, go so far as to create microscopic tunnels in their batteries so that lithium ions can reduce chemical friction. Because yes, although carbon silicon batteries are called that, they are not made of pure silicon, they are a natural evolution of lithium batteries themselves.
It’s not that easy. The next challenge after the introduction of silicon-carbon batteries has been to take advantage of their ability to store greater energy in a smaller size to achieve barbaric capacities: 7,000mAh, 7,500mAh, 10,000mAh. Energy densities notably higher than those that large manufacturers, such as Samsung, Apple and Google, currently mount in their high-end phones.
Here an extra degree is added to the uncertainty: not only do we have more modern and not so tested batteries, but we also have capabilities that make their behavior even more unpredictable.
Go deeper. The war for high-capacity batteries adds, apart from doubts about their reliability on the part of some manufacturers, logistical and economic challenges. They are more expensive batteries, and some manufacturers They are not taking them out of China yet. for that same reason.
Added to this is that although the spec sheet tells us about milliamp hours, the main measure to determine the energy capacity of a battery is watt hours (Whr). Europe does not like batteries with more than 20 Whr, and they require longer and more expensive transport and authorization protocols.
If the RAM crisis threatens to skyrocket the price of smartphones, thinking about incorporating significantly more expensive batteries does not seem like a viable plan to maintain the current margins of large manufacturers.
Image | Apple
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